


Binary Stars

by astrobiologist



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Shiro (Voltron), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Matt Holt/Shiro, Prophecy, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Temporary Character Death, Video & Computer Games, Virtual Reality, Voltron Lions as Dragons, dungeons and dragons sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2019-11-05 01:41:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 60,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17909597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrobiologist/pseuds/astrobiologist
Summary: Monsters and Mana is the newest innovation in gaming technology, and Lance has his sights set on playing it, no matter what the cost. However, it just may turn out to be more than he bargained for.





	1. Protostars

It all starts with a proposition from Lance to his friends.

He's planned it out perfectly- they're hanging out at Sal’s Bar, the best spot on campus for drinks because Sal knows them and he basically owes Hunk for the rest of his life. They've just finished up final exams for the semester and they're celebrating. Admittedly, just after finals might be horrible timing to celebrate for some people, but Hunk and Pidge are geniuses, so they're both in great spirits. Plus, it's the start of winter break. Combine all of those factors, and they're a little buzzed from not only the alcohol but also the excitement of finishing another semester so Lance is ready to throw his proposal out there.

He takes another sip of the weak beer Sal keeps on hand and interrupts their conversation- something about robotics- waving a fry in the air as he does. “So, hey, have you guys heard of Monsters and Mana? It's this new top-of-the-line virtual reality game and it's like, totally the kind of thing we'd be into.”

They give him blank stares- he kind of figured as much, Lance is usually the one finding them new games and MnM is _really_ new. Like, just-became-information-available-to- the-public-new. Pidge raises an eyebrow at him in silent question. “Never heard of it. What’s it all about? Go ahead, give us the rundown, Lance,” she asks, placing both of her hands around her glass and nudging Hunk’s side with an amused quirk of her lips. Lance rolls his eyes- okay, sure, he struck out with the last three games he suggested to them, but this one just _has_ to be in the clear. It's perfect.

He puts his cup down and slides his hands back along the table towards himself, psyching himself up for this speech. He's rehearsed it in his head for like, a week. It has to work. There is nothing Lance has ever wanted more in his life than to play this game. Blinking and taking a deep breath, he launches right into it, “Okay, so Monsters and Mana is developed by Garrison Corps and it's the first game they're releasing in their neuroreality launch, meaning a series of games played through a brain-computer interface. This would make it the first of its kind, which is super cool! Monsters and Mana is a fantasy game in the style of Dungeons and Dragons only virtual, and it seems real to the player. NPCs are actually played by actors employed through Garrison to make the game more real, and player actions are determined by a random chance generator kinda like the dice in DnD but it's real time. It sounds super neat,” he closes, with a much lamer clincher than he meant to. And he _sorta_ sounded like an infomercial spitting out information the whole time. _Shit._

Hunk, to his credit, seems interested. “It _does_ sound cool. Why haven't I heard about it?” He asks, leaning forward onto one hand. Pidge glances back and forth between the two boys and nods her agreement, taking her straw in between two fingers and sipping.

“It just got released. It's not beta testing yet, but they will be soon- you need to go through Garrison Corps to be an approved beta tester, but we could do it. It's not really that hard, I've read up on it.” Lance shrugs, grabbing another handful of fries. This is actually going surprisingly well.

Pidge snatches a fry from their basket as well and pops it into her mouth, chewing. She swallows after a moment and frowns in consideration. “And what about the brain-computer implant? Don't get me wrong, that sounds super cool, but that's a whole ass surgery right there. How much would that cost? How much would all this cost, actually?”

Lance winces. _This_ is the question he was hoping to skirt around. “Um,” he answers smartly, a fry held up to his mouth and his eyes frozen wide in fear, and Pidge narrows her eyes at him. He clears his throat and mumbles, “Uh. Well, the surgery would be around five thousand, and the game is about one thousand, and getting into the beta is three hundred? And if we want our own server- not saying we do- that'd be one thousand more. So either six thousand and three hundred or seven thousand and three hundred. Depends.” He clears his throat again and belatedly pops his fry into his mouth.

Pidge’s eyes bug out of her head. Hunk’s jaw drops open. “Did you say six thousand?!” Pidge echoes in disbelief.

Lance coughs awkwardly into his sleeve. “And three hundred, yes.” He glances around the bar to find several sets of suspicious eyes trained on them. Talking big bucks in a run-down college bar: not Lance's most thought through plan. He turns back to his friends. “But!” He interjects optimistically with a pointed finger. “I've done the math, and if we split it up between us that's two thousand one hundred dollars per person!”

Pidge gives him a tired look, clutching her drink closer to her like she needs it. “Lance.” He blinks. “We each need our own _copies._ Even if we split up the cost three ways and three times, we are still each paying six thousand three hundred dollars each.” He squints. Oh. He… had missed that train of thought in the week's worth of thought he did on this, somehow. Whoops.

Hunk gives him a weird sort of apologetic expression that ends up partially a grimace, partially a frown, and partially a smile. He pats him on the back consolingly. “Sorry, Lance, but we just don't have the cash for it right now. Broke college students and all. You know how it is. Maybe someday, though, huh buddy?”

Lance tries not to pout at their dismissal of the topic as Pidge and Hunk return to discussing robotics again. He tips the rest of his watered-down beer into his mouth and plops the glass back onto the table with a thud that is definitely not sulking. Maybe. Just a little bit.

So, it all ends with a proposition to Lance's friends, too, then. Or so he thinks.


	2. Proxima Centauri

Winter break comes and goes just as quickly as one would expect it to and then Lance is back in his classes. He's got a course this semester on aquatic botany to complete his degree that he's actually excited about. When he shows up to his first day of class he's proven to be _extremely right._ It should be a _very_ good class, because Allura’s in it, and she hasn't been in one of his courses since his gen eds. He had thought he'd shown up to the class plenty early, but apparently not, because Allura had beaten him and taken one of the seats near the middle. Upon spotting her, he slides into the seat next to her.

“Hey!” He greets her, setting his notebook down as he sits. “What are you doing here? This isn't your major,” he asks, sliding his bag over his shoulder and setting it on the ground next to his chair.

She turns to see who's talking to her and her lips quirk into a smile. “Lance!” She realizes, and she quickly stands up out of her chair to offer him a hug. Lance gets up out of his as well to accept- it’s brief, but Lance almost has to laugh. A semester ago he would have been tripping over himself at a chance to hug Allura. God, he almost has to cringe at how forward he'd been with her back then- they're much better off as friends, he thinks. She pulls away and beams at him. “I'm helping my father out with one of his projects. He needs to design some aquatic plant life for a fantasy setting, so I'm taking this class to pass research along to him since I had an elective free and it sounded interesting.” She adjusts something on her laptop and turns back to him. “What about you? I know you're a marine biology major, but any particular reason you picked this class?”

“I'm aiming to eventually write my thesis on the practical application of bioluminescence in various organisms and how that could translate to research applications here on land, and a lot of those are botanical,” he explains almost robotically. It's a weird choice, he knows, but it's one that he thinks could be a good research choice for renewable light sources in the future. He's put some thought into it. (Plus, he thinks bioluminescence is cool as fuck.) Thankfully, Allura seems to think it's cool rather than sleep-inducing; her eyes light up and she snaps a finger at him like she's had an idea.

She furrows her eyebrows determinedly and her long silver hair swishes behind her as she swivels her head to look at him. “That _could_ be one of the things my father needs! Do you think you could tell me more about bioluminescence in aquatic organisms? When you get a chance, of course.”

Lance blinks in surprise. He was _not_ expecting this. No one's ever been this interested in his choice of thesis research. Ever. “Uh. Yeah, of course? Uh, sometime outside of class, I guess-” It's then that the professor comes in and Lance has to open his notebook and begin to pay attention. It's just the first day, so they just go over the syllabus, but he still can't just talk to Allura all class period long.

Class ends and he's picking up his notebook when Allura questions, “I just realized I never gave you my number before. Or any way to get in contact with me at all, I guess. You can tell me more about bioluminescence that way, right?” She asks, handing her phone over absentmindedly. Lance takes it and types his number in, saving it and handing it back.

“Yeah, sure, that's no problem,” he tells her as they stroll out of class. “So what is your dad's project? It's easier to know what to tell you if I know what he's working on, I guess,” Lance asks, more than a little curious at this point what this project could possibly be that Allura is so diligently working on.

Allura brightens immediately, which makes Lance even more suspicious. He'd at first assumed it was just like, a novel or some boring project like that, but Allura seems genuinely excited about this. Which has Lance on edge. “It's really cool, actually!” She says, and see, yeah, that right there. That's weird. Dad projects aren't supposed to be ‘really cool actually.’ They're supposed to be embarrassing. She continues, “My father works for a corporation which is designing a new virtual reality fantasy game played through brain implant, and-”

Lance cuts her off, choking on his words. “Your dad is _Alfor de Altea?!_ The head of Garrison Corps game company?! The same Garrison Corps currently developing Monsters and Mana?” He thinks his jaw has somehow managed to unhinge completely.

Allura blinks in shock, then smiles sweetly. “Oh. You've heard of it?”

_“Yes!”_ Lance screams, and he's pretty sure it's so loud that even a few birds outside the building startle and take flight. He flinches at his own volume, and sighs apologetically. “Yes. I just,” he laughs tiredly, “I have been trying _everything_ to convince Hunk and Pidge that we should get copies of the beta, and they won't listen, we just can't scrape up the money, and you come along asking me for help designing the game, and… wow.” Lance lets out a deep breath and shakes his head. It's a lot to take in that he's going to be helping to design MnM, and still won't have a copy. 

Allura stares at him blankly for several seconds then raises her eyebrows in sudden realization. “I just solved so many problems,” she states slowly and unhelpfully. Lance squints at her in confusion and she, to his immense gratification, clarifies, “Father's been asking me to put together an alpha testing team to report directly to Garrison. A scouting team, of sorts, to check out the game. The issue has been that he wants seven people that I trust and who have gaming experience, and I only had four. You, Hunk, and Pidge make seven, and Garrison Corps is of course paying for all the expenses.” She shrugs as if what she's offering is no big deal. “Wanna be on the alpha frontlines?” Lance can only stare. For who knows how long. After a while, she actually waves a hand in front of his face, which isn't something he ever thought people actually did. “Lance?”

He clears his throat. “Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, cool, yeah, I do. Definitely. I'll have to check with Hunk and Pidge, but I'm sure they'll say yes. Thanks, Allura. This is so cool. I can't believe this. Holy shit. Thank you so much. You're the best. I am forever in your debt.” He bows down to her with his hands clasped in front of him, only half joking and most of the way in shock, and she laughs at him.

“Lance, it's fine. You're doing _me_ a favor, too. I should have asked you in the first place. Besides, you're the one helping me out with designing the bioluminescent plant life. I owe you one.” She waves him off and heads off in the direction of the business campus, leaving Lance to dazedly walk back to their apartment himself.

He gets there and unlocks the door to stumble in on Hunk and Pidge playing Mario Kart on the couch, Pidge screaming at Hunk for blue shelling her. He walks over to sit next to them on autopilot and Hunk pauses the game immediately, glancing at him in concern. “We're in,” he whispers, staring straight ahead. 

“What?” Pidge asks, draped over the arm of the couch in what seems like it could not possibly be a comfortable position, but is still the one she claims every time, so.

“We're in,” he repeats louder, “to Monsters and Mana. All expenses paid. Allura’s dad is the CEO and he's looking for Allura to hand pick an alpha testing team, and she picked us to be part of it.” He finally meets their gazes, and sees his own shock and surprise echoed in their expressions.

Well. Guess things really _do_ end with propositioning his friends, then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I know I promised longer chapters after last week but it actually read much better cut like this, so THIS is actually the last short chapter before I start getting into the deep stuff! I promise!
> 
> Short note- Lance's choice of research is derived from a potential research proposition I have an interest in myself, just in plant biology instead of marine biology. Ask me about it if you wanna know more, I promise I will talk your ear off!
> 
> If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a kudos or drop me a comment to let me know what you thought- things will be getting much more interesting next week! (Somebody new shows up. ;) )
> 
> My tumblr is @astro-biologist if any of you wanna come talk to me there, too. I'm always open to talking about future plans for my writing.


	3. Sabik

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected meeting and new beginnings.

Lance, Pidge, and Hunk have meetings at Garrison Corps headquarters four weeks in advance of the time they're scheduled to start testing MnM. The meeting is to go over all the details on the game, implant the brain computer implant, and for the player to design their character so that Garrison has time to optimize it before they enter the simulation.

Lance is… nervous, to say the least.

Not for the talking parts of the meeting, for the other part. It's not that he's never had surgery before, but… okay, Lance has never had surgery before. Discounting the removal of his wisdom teeth when he was 16, which he doesn't think really counts. He's allowed to be a little nervous for it, okay? These people may be professionals, but they are still going into his _brain._ Yikes.

Discarding that, because he's trying to stay cool thinking about how he'll be out cold for that portion of the day, he's fairly fucking excited to design his character. It's gonna be the best. He doesn't know what any of his options are for character creation because most stuff about the game has been kept under wraps so far, but Hunk and Pidge have already been called back to design theirs, so he knows it can't be too much longer before he is, too.

He fidgets and smooths down the fabric of his jeans with his palms, before promptly turning and grabbing a magazine from next to him. He's sitting in a pretty spacious waiting room, but it's currently empty apart from him- they're the only people getting funneled into the game right now, he guesses. It'll probably be full of people lining up to get implants and design characters once it's open to the public- but it's not yet, he has to remind himself.

He looks down at the magazine he grabbed without thinking- _Gardening Weekly_ , it reads, and frowns. He doesn't really have any interest in gardening. He tosses it back onto the table and focuses on calming himself down. Allura has assured him in class that the implant is no problem, it's not even that invasive of a surgery, and it's amazing once it's installed. But he's still nervous? He wipes his sweaty palms off on the chair below him and takes a deep breath. It'll be fine, he'll just get it over with and then onto the game, he promises himself.

“Lance McClain?” A nasal voice echoes throughout the empty waiting room and Lance jerks his head up to see who's calling him. A willowy lady in Garrison uniform holding a clipboard stands poised in the doorway, pursing her lips at him. “Your consultation will begin now. If you would follow me, please,” she drones, already turning around and not sparing a glance over her shoulder to see if he's following as her heels clack down the hallway. Lance rushes to stand up and follow after her. He's almost completely crossed the unproportionately large waiting room when a side door that had escaped Lance's notice opens and a boy about his own age exits the door. And, okay, Lance will admit- he gets distracted. This boy is _attractive._ He's gorgeous. He has pale skin and long black hair that hangs into his face and he's totally giving off bad boy vibes holy shit is that a leather jacket Lance might be _drooling_ -

And then he runs right into Lance. Like, totally body slams him with his shoulder on his way towards the elevator and what the hell, there's a whole empty waiting room to walk in?! Uncalled for. “Watch where you're going, asshole!” Lance calls out after him as he rounds the corner down the hallway. There's no response. He huffs in annoyance and turns back to the door, hurrying to catch up to clipboard lady. 

He catches her at the end of the hall, turning into a room with a doctor’s office adjacent setup. It's weird, but Lance thinks he can understand. It _is_ a consult, after all, just not with a doctor. Well. It will be, later, but he's trying not to think about that.

Clipboard lady makes a few marks on her clipboard, then looks up at him from through the lenses of her glasses. “Alfor will be in to explain things to you shortly,” she states, and then spins on her heels and clicks out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her. Lance's eyebrows jump up at that and he feels his heart rate spike. _Alfor_ is coming in here to talk to him? As in, the Alfor, the CEO of his favorite gaming company, Alfor? This is all so weird. God, if he'd known earlier that Allura was the daughter of a rich and famous CEO, he probably would have been a lot more enamored, huh? And starstruck. Good thing he didn't know, then, because he's worried if he knew, he maybe never would have moved on from Allura, and he really kind of likes having her as a friend.

The door swings open all too soon and Lance finds himself nervously clutching at his thighs in his seat. In steps a man who looks a lot like Allura, but with his platinum hair reaching to his jaw and a striking beard. When Lance pictured Allura’s dad, he definitely did not picture this. This man is weirdly handsome for a dad, but he supposes that to be rich and famous and have a daughter as gorgeous as Allura, you have to be somewhat attractive. 

Also, he's never, ever, under any circumstance telling Allura any of those thoughts he just had.

“Lance,” Alfor greets him, extending a hand in greeting for Lance to shake. Lance accepts it, and Alfor takes the seat across the room, settling into it comfortably. “Allura’s told me a lot about you. She's mentioned you may be able to help us with designing some flora and fauna for an underwater bit of the game I'm having difficulty with? It would mean a great deal to me,” he explains with a smile. Lance can suddenly see Allura in him- that's her smile. It's odd to see her expressions mirrored on his face. For some reason the thought of Allura having a whole family out there just like her never occurred to him? It makes him feel immensely guilty, but Allura gives off such independent vibes that it never crossed his mind.

He shakes himself out of his stupor and offers a grin back. “Of course, Mr. De Altea. It would be my pleasure to help out with Monsters and Mana. I've been following news about the game since it was first announced, and I'm excited to be able to play it,” he confesses, feeling a little embarrassed about that statement. Should he not have said that? Is he supposed to be going in blind? Oh god, now he's gonna be kicked out of the alpha and have to just sit back and watch his friends play without him. 

“Oh!” Alfor exclaims, eyebrows quirking up in surprise. “You're a fan. That's always nice to hear! And, it will provide a unique perspective in your bug reports.” He pulls out a tablet and fiddles with it a little, before looking up and tacking on, “Oh, and Lance? Please, call me Alfor. Mr. De Altea was my father.” He winks at him, and Lance feels a little strange- on one hand, he's on the receiving end of a wink from Allura’s dad, and that's a little weird. On the other hand, he's on the receiving end of a wink from the CEO of Garrison Corps and that's _extremely_ weird.

Alfor holds the tablet up for Lance to see, and he can see it's open to a character customization engine. Suddenly Lance has never been itching to get his hands on anything in his life more than that tablet. “This is the character creation module,” Alfor tells him, gesturing to where a blank gray mannequin-like figure stands on screen. “It lets you pick your race, class, and gender on this first screen and will show you example avatars for each choice, but the next screen is where things get really intense. Garrison recommends that you use our camera and scanning features to design your base character model because it optimizes movements better- your brain already knows how your body moves and works, obviously. But if you want to start from scratch, that's an option too, and then of course you can customize everything about the model either way.” Alfor still holds the tablet out of Lance's reach and Lance feels a little like whimpering  
It is _so close_ , yet so far. “Now, the next screens are a _very_ in depth questionnaire designed to create a unique backstory for your character. Once you load into MnM for the first time, this backstory will seem as real to you in game as your memories from out of game, so it's important to put some thought into it. The final screen is your personal settings- they can be changed later, but they're things like pain expression levels and flashing light optimization or any other issues you could have that may transfer in-game.” He finally hands the tablet over and Lance has to try hard not to make grabby hands for it.

Alfor stands up and makes to leave. “You should be able to figure everything else out. The tablet will signal us when you're done and Natalya will come to collect you to move to the operating room. Have fun,” he laughs, and steps out the door. It shuts behind him with a decisive click.

Lance is immediately practically absorbed by the tablet. There are so many race options, holy shit, they really went all out, he doesn't even think he's ever seen this many playable races in a game. There's your basic fantasy races like humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, but then there's also things he's never even heard of. He has to read the descriptions for what they are to even figure them out. A lot of races are compelling to him, but in the end he goes with the genasi, a race descended from genies who derive from and have control over one of the four elements. And of course he picks water, because what else would he pick? Duh.

Class is a less interesting issue. Lance has never played Dungeons and Dragons before, but the classes are the same and he's certainly heard Pidge talk about it enough for it to seem like he's played. So he chooses bard immediately, because he'd have to be a fool not to. The bard just seems like the most fun character to play, and plus he gets that good, good charisma bonus which is gonna help with any flirting targets he may or may not have. (He most definitely will, who is he kidding.) 

Gender is male, but he appreciates having the option to choose because he can see how that might be a problem for some players, so he doesn't take it for granted. He moves onto the next screen and is presented with a pop-up box asking if he would like to be scanned by the camera or create a character from scratch. Lance agrees to be scanned by the camera, because _what the hell_ , that's so cool, and a camera drops down from the ceiling of the room rather than up from the tablet as he'd expected. The tablet instructs him to set it down and spin in a circle, so he does. It bings when it's done and the camera retracts. He picks the tablet back up and sure enough, there is a full body scan of him standing on screen, where the mannequin had been previously. It shifts restlessly every few seconds in an idle animation. It's a little bit unnerving how uncanny the resemblance is, actually.

While the miniature onscreen Lance is a perfect copy in body build, height, and facial structure, it's skin is tinted a faint blue which is a characteristic of the water genasi race. His ears are faintly pointed. His hair, while remaining the same height and effortlessly messy look he tries so hard for, falls and laps over the back of his head in waves, simply evaporating into seafoam where his hair ends. So, objectively, he loves it. _But_ , he thinks it could be better.

Okay, so, he _really_ just wants to look fancier. So, he plays around with the options until his skin glints a blue-green-brown like the color of the ocean under sun, and he has sweeping, swirling, delicate curls and tendrils decorating and outlining parts his body in a deep royal blue. Keeps messing with it until it appears like his character always has a sheen of water on his skin like he just stepped out of a shower or, you know, the nearest river. Makes himself the coolest, most alluring guy ever. Only _then_ does he click the next button.

And, okay, so Alfor had told him the character questionnaire would be in depth, but _holy shit_ , it's gotta be at least a hundred questions. He settles in and starts typing away answers. For the most part he doesn't go too bold with his backstory. He keeps his character's family the same as his own and gives himself a humble villager life. Raised by merchants and yadda yadda. It should be easy to play because it'll be him, but he does throw in a few curveballs. An important family heirloom. Leaving his family at age 16 to travel and learn the songs of different cultures. A _few_ interesting things, at least. Just to spice it up. 

He finishes up the questionnaire at long last and taps into the settings page. He shouldn't have any issues with lights or anything else he could think of, but he does hesitate over the pain setting. It's already set on default at dulled, but Lance just hasn't experienced what the game has to offer yet, has he? His hand overs over the setting before making a quick adjustment and clicking the finish button. He can adjust it again later if he wants to. He shouldn't make any huge changes before he knows what he's getting himself into.

Almost immediately, clipboard lady (Natalya, apparently) appears in the doorway. “I can take that,” she assures him, holding out a sharply manicured hand for the tablet. Lance sheepishly hands it over. She turns on her heel with her long blonde ponytail swishing behind her and requests, “Follow me, please.”

He stands reluctantly and makes his way down the hallway behind her. His knees feel weak, suddenly. Is the room spinning or is that just him? She stops in front of a set of opened double doors and gestures with her clipboard for him to enter. He turns into the room and is startled by the absolute beast of a man blocking out the light in the room. Lance feels himself jump a little at the sight, but as soon as the man spots him he grins easily and offers him a handshake. “Lance McClain? I'm Dr. Ulysses. I'll be performing your implant surgery today.” Lance's grip tightens around his hand as he takes in the man's stark white doctor's coat and pristine appearance. Oh, shit. Dr. Ulysses laughs at him, easing his hand out of Lance's grip. “Well, I can see that someone is nervous for today's surgery. Don't be- you'll be out for the duration of the process, and the surgery itself is minimal. We make a laser incision along the line of your scalp where the implant goes, and a microscopic robot goes in to implant it, then leaves and we stitch it up. It's easy, I promise, and we can send you home right after on a heavy dose of painkillers,” he promises, crossing his arms.

Lance considers this. That _does_ in fact sound much easier than he'd been envisioning. He nods at the doctor, and hops up into the surgical chair in the center of the room. “Juice me up, then, doc. Get me that good anesthesia.” The doctor shakes his head and huffs at his phasing but nonetheless leaves to get the proper dosage. In no time at all, Lance is out cold, and after that, he slips back into consciousness in almost exactly the same fashion as when he got his wisdom teeth out. Minus the unintentional flirting with the doctor, he thinks. He hopes. So it actually goes over much better than he'd been imagining.

They send him home on the maglev a little fuzzy-headed and with instructions on how to setup and activate his implant, a bottle of painkillers, and a promise that he can start playing when their server opens up in four weeks.

\---

As much as he tries to get it out of Allura who the other unknown players are in the days leading up to that fateful day, she remains tight-lipped. Pidge lets it slip one day that her brother is one of their group of seven but he hadn't thought it was _important_ enough to tell her before, and of course it was, _Matt you dickwad_ , so Lance now knows who at least one of them is.

He supposes figuring out who the other two players are doesn't even really matter because Allura says she doesn't think they know them, anyways. So, now he waits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith is here! Sort of. Not really, yet, I guess. Haha.
> 
> Next chapter: We meet Shiro, Matt, Keith (for real this time), and Coran! I FINALLY get to show you guys the character designs I painstakingly optimized for these characters!
> 
> We've seen Lance's avatar now- if you guys have played/know DnD and have any guesses on everyone else I'd love to hear them! They're all already written and sketched up, so I can tell you if you're right or not. :) Leave a comment if you have any ideas or a kudos if you liked the chapter- things are picking up now!


	4. Azha

The day finally comes. Lance lays on his bed staring at the ceiling, ready to log in but knowing there are a horrible insignificant three minutes before their server opens. He counts spots on the ceiling, then when it seems like enough time has passed, he closes his eyes and thinks to himself, _octopi have fingers_ , a horrible sentence really but his password had to be something he wouldn't normally think, and a pop-up box shimmers into view before him. _Did you intend to log into Monsters and Mana?_ It asks, and Lance answers that fuck yeah, he did, and everything fades to black. He worries for a second that something has glitched and he's already been locked out of the game, but then he hears a faint murmur of, “Open your eyes.” Confused, he looks around, but there doesn't seem to be anyone there. “Open your eyes, Lance,” the voice repeats gently.

Lance pries his eyes open, having to squint at the sudden presence of warm yellow light from a fire lit in a fireplace, and there's another soft blue face peering down at him, very similar to his own. _Rachel,_ he realizes belatedly. His sister. “He's up, mamá!” Not-quite-Rachel shouts as she flips her head around, a spray of mist whipping off of her wavy hair as she turns and buffeting Lance in the face. It's at this moment that he realizes these must be his memories, because this one is already shifting in his mind's eye.

Lance passes through a series of montage-like visuals similar to the one he just lived through until he somehow feels inseparable as Lance the player from Lance the character. It's a strange and almost overwhelming feeling, but thankfully that's the moment that he sits up in his bed heaving for breath, sweating profusely.

He looks around at his surroundings. Not his _real_ bed in the _real_ world, it seems, just a bed somewhere in a dark room where he has no clue where he is. _Arus,_ his brain somehow supplies him. He's in Arus, on his way to the elven kingdoms in the north to attempt to learn Elvish so he can sing their ballads in their native language. Of _course_ he is, what was he thinking?

So. It looks like the game’s artificial memory mechanic is gonna be kinda unsettling in the beginning, huh.

Lance stands up out of the bed and stretches, getting used to his body. He's got comfortable enough clothes on and the way game mechanics commonly work, it figures that they'd be the only set he owns right now. So he leaves them on. Almost the moment he sets foot outside, he's grabbed by the wrist and yanked to the side. He holds up his free fist defensively- he doesn't have a weapon yet, just his guitar… Which is conveniently lying back in his room five steps away. He could sing? Maybe? Fuck, bard mechanics might be harder to get used to than he thought.

As soon as he can breathe easily again, he registers that his assaulter is none other than Allura. He gives himself a moment to take her appearance in- she looks mostly the same, but she has faintly glowing pink marks on her cheekbones and long, tall elven ears. If anything, her hair is more gorgeous than ever in all its platinum glory. He huffs a sigh of relief. “Holy quiznak, Allura,” he doesn't know where the foreign expletive comes from but it rolls off of his tongue fluidly. “You scared the shit outta me. What is it?” He asks.

She narrows her eyes at him and quirks her lips into a half-frown. “You're late,” she grumbles, and tugs on his wrist to get him to follow her. He lets himself go elastic and be maneuvered in her wake. “All the others are gathered in the Castle of Lions, and Coran and I are waiting to go over the prophecy.”

Lance raises an eyebrow at her. An unhappy Allura is not a good Allura. He tugs his wrist out of her grasp with a little bit of a struggle- fuck, she is _strong_ \- before asking, “Okay, but why all the fuss? Can't this wait?” He frowns at her impatiently. He'd kind of been hoping to run around and figure out how the game works before jumping into story shit.

Allura gives him a death glare and replaces her grip on his wrist, yanking him along once again. “Sorry, Lance, but you're _important,_ as it turns out. This world could perish if we don't fulfill the prophecy in time, apparently.” She doesn't sound all that surprised by this fact even though Lance thinks she should. It's a pretty mind-blowing fact.

“Woah, woah, woah, hold up!” He rushes to catch up with her rather than being dragged along. “You mean to tell me that I'm some kind of prophesied hero of old? I can't do that! I'm not cut out for it!” He waves his sole arm not being held by Allura at her in a frantic panic and she purses her lips at him.

“We'll see about that. We're here,” she informs him, stopping in front of a small stone building and entering through the meager blue-painted doorway. Lance follows behind her and walks in on perhaps the most ragtag group of people he's ever seen.

“Finally,” a voice buzzes mechanically, and Lance's eyes fall onto a significantly shorter party member. They're tapping their foot impatiently, and look up at him with owlish, glowing, green eyes. He doesn't have a descriptive word for what they are other than a robot, plain and simple, though that seems unlikely in this genre of game. When they shift though, their metallic joints roll against one another in sync and Lance realizes this has to be some kind of robot.

He squints. “ _Pidge?_ ” He asks, fairly confident Pidge is the only one of them who'd choose to play as a robot, but then again three of the players are pretty much wild cards to him, so. 

She nods and jerks her head to her left with a mechanical whirring. “Yup, and Hunk’s right here, in case you were wondering. You probably figured that out, though, huh.” Lance slides his gaze over to the hulking figure standing next to Pidge and looks up at his best friend. Hunk stands several feet taller than any of the rest of them, and he's covered in a thin layer of brown fur. His long black hair is styled the same as always, tied back with a yellow headband, and his floppy ears lop out from under it.

Lance takes in his appearance, eyebrows raising up to his hairline. He makes an imposing silhouette. Hunk chuckles at him. “I know- I'm _super_ tall. Firbolgs are part giant, neat, huh?” Hunk asks, rubbing the back of his neck shyly. Lance immediately nods enthusiastically in response and moves onto examining the rest of the party. The next person his eyes fall onto is… interesting, for lack of a better word. It's got to be Pidge’s brother Matt, because he looks like some alternate reality older and more masculine version of Pidge, with longer hair falling down just below his shoulders and hanging in a loose ponytail. Also, the entire lower half of his body is a _horse,_ which seems pretty important. He's a fucking centaur: half-Holt and half-horse. It's a _real_ weird visual experience and Lance doesn't know what _exactly_ compelled Matt to choose that race in particular and his brain actually hurts just thinking about it, so he moves on.

The next two players are the wild cards in the line-up, the ones who Lance has no previous knowledge of, so he doesn't know what to expect but as his eyes shift over to the next guy in the impromptu lineup he almost swallows his tongue.

He's like, glowing. Lance doesn't _actually_ think he's glowing, of course, but looking at him for the first time it sure seems like he is. This guy _seems_ to have gone the basic route and chosen human, but he can't be sure because a lot of the player races look human even though they aren't. He has pale, marble-esque skin like some kind of Greco-Roman statue and Lance bets he has the abs to match. His face looks like it's been chiseled from a slab of stone, too, and he's got a pale pink scar slashing across his nose in the middle of his face. His eyes are steely and silver, and his hair is buzzed short except for the shock of white that cascades into his face and off the side of his head. It's ethereal how attractive he is, really. This dude _can't_ be scanned into the game, he's gotta be cobbled together from scratch because it is too unreal.

Almost as an afterthought after Adonis over there, Lance's gaze drifts over to the last guy, who is leaning against the wall hidden partially by the shadows. He has deep red skin and tall, curving horns sprout out of his head. Lance squints at him, unable to discern much with him hiding in the shadows like that and with his long black bangs falling into his face- who puts their hair up in a high ponytail but leaves their bangs down to obscure their face? Dick move, really. As if sensing Lance's scrutiny, the guy shifts and the tip of his tail- a _tail? Really?_ \- flicks behind him impatiently as he tips his head up and meets Lance's gaze. Lance startles as if he's been burned, which he may as well have been- he's being stared down with harsh, yellow, pupil-less eyes. The guy purses his lips and tilts his head, several earrings jangling against one another from his slightly pointed ears. “Still taking your sweet time, or are we ready to hear the prophecy? I wanna know what it is we're up against,” He complains, his voice coming out as a deep rasp that makes it sound sort of like he hasn't spoken in a while. 

Lance glares at him with as much venom as he can muster up. This guy seems familiar, but he can't put his finger on why. Or if he even actually is. He doesn't seem to have any manners, and Lance doesn't make a habit of hanging out with rude people. “ _Some people_ also like to know who it is they're up against these things _with,_ thank you very much,” Lance hisses, squinting at yellow eyes guy. The guy just rolls his eyes in response, or at least Lance thinks he does. It's a little hard to tell when he doesn't have pupils and all.

Allura clears her throat and Lance turns his attention back to her. She's giving the two of them a very pointed look and Lance winces a little. Getting on Allura’s bad side _never_ goes well. “Lance, Keith, please restrain from arguments while we are working together as a party, thank you.” She raises an eyebrow and Lance shrugs apologetically. She sighs at this gesture and turns to her left. “Coran, could you please explain the prophecy? I don't have the patience to wrangle all six of them in the same place at once for too much longer.”

To her left stands what appears to be another elf, this one with orange hair and a handlebar mustache. He, too, seems to have similar intricate facial markings as Allura, only hers are pink, glowing slightly, and appear like the branches on a tree. But his are blue and look more like fern leaves winding up his cheekbones. He clears his throat and begins, smiling cheerfully, “Of course, Allura. You see, within the Altean wood elf culture, we have passed down a prophecy for tens of thousands of years. The time has come, we believe, that this prophecy is relevant, and we have reason to believe that the five of you are the heroes spoken of in the prophecy. I- well, I'll just recite it for you and you can see for yourselves.”

The man closes his eyes as if recalling the words and suddenly the room seems so much darker, seems to narrow in on only this Coran guy as he begins to recite,  
_“When the moment comes that the sky burns with fire, the undying emperor shall usher forth an age of pain._  
Ten thousand years shall pass before the five paladins’ reign.  
A man of gold, a giant of old, a horned one dressed in red, a scholar trained to raise the dead, and a waterlogged musician second to none.  
Five become ten, ten become one,  
One shall rise,  
Two shall fall,  
Two shall perish,  
And the fate of Altea shall rely on them all.”

The room is dead silent as Coran reopens his eyes and clears his throat. The silence lingers for several seconds, none of them willing to cut the tension, when suddenly yellow-eyes, who Lance can reasonably assume is named Keith, sighs and grumbles, “Okay, what the quiznak does that mean? I _can't_ be alone in not understanding a single word in there.” He crosses his arms and taps his foot impatiently, his tail swinging an annoyed arc behind him.

Allura purses her lips in disappointment at their group, who remain silent in some kind of collective agreement. Lance sure knows he didn't understand any of the underlying symbolism behind that weird poem. This is just like high school English class, honestly. Only with much less acne. Allura relents, shoulders slumping in defeat, and gives in, “Fine. But you are _lucky_ that this prophecy has been being deciphered by scholars for thousands of years.” She walks briskly over to a bookshelf against one of the walls and plucks a book out of it, flipping open to one of the pages and pointing to a page with scribbled notes. “The ‘undying emperor’ line is set in stone, it's already happened. That refers to Zarkon, the emperor of the Drow who has been waging war on Altea for the past ten thousand years. This next line obviously is meant to be a clue as to the timing of his downfall, which would be now. Here's where things get more abstract. This line,” she points her finger to the longest line in the prophecy, “is describing the qualities of the legendary paladins of the prophecy. We believe that would be you.” She gestures to them and pauses, waiting for an answer. 

Lance squints, taking this information in. He steps forward and holds up his hands. “Woah. Woah, woah, woah. That _cannot_ be right. Look at us! Do we _look_ like some destined heroes straight out of a prophecy? We don't even fit the descriptions!” He waves his hands frantically, arguing this fate. There's no way he's destined to save an entire realm. The universe wouldn't have screwed itself over like that, virtual or no.

“Ah, but that's where you're wrong, my boy,” Coran butts in, raising a finger in protest. “You see, you must analyze the lines in order to make sense of them, that _is_ how prophecies work. So, to dissect the text, ‘a man of gold’ refers to you, Shiro, and in a quite literal sense, your celestial parentage and abilities. ‘A giant of old’ refers to Hunk and his own ancestry from the ancient giant lineages and in particular, his sorcery over those abilities. ‘A horned one dressed in red’ is a reference to you, Keith, and in a literal sense, your appearance, but in a more metaphorical sense, your past and the way you wear it. ‘A scholar trained to raise the dead’ is quite obvious, I think, don't you, Pidge? And last but not least we have ‘a waterlogged musician second to none,’ referencing you, Lance, and your own ancestry and talent. I think it's all quite clear once you take it apart, isn't it?” He adjusts his bow tie and leans against the wall. Lance steps back into line along with the others, remaining silent.

Allura clears her throat. “Yes, well. With _that_ out of the way, the rest of the prophecy is, er, mostly crystal clear, save for a few lines. In specific, ‘five become ten, ten become one.’ Just… no one is sure what that means. We'll have to figure it out as we go along, I suppose, but everything else is rather clear. Are you with us?” She asks, shifting her weight on her feet and placing her hands on her hips. 

It's awkwardly silent. Nobody makes a sound. Lance fidgets with the cuff of his jacket- realistically, he knows they probably have to fulfill the prophecy or whatever, it's probably like their “main quest,” but actually being faced with the fate of a whole world resting on your shoulders is… a daunting thought. Even if it _is_ all virtual, it still has virtual consequences. That's the way the game works; he knows this.

“I'm in,” Keith speaks up first, stepping forward and crossing his arms. “If Altea needs us, we have to do this, right? Plus, it's not like I have anything better to be doing, so.” He looks around at the rest of them defensively, awaiting their own answers. Or at least Lance thinks he looks around. It is _really_ hard to tell with those solid yellow eyes.

Lance remains where he is. No way is he volunteering next, especially not when the only person who's agreed so far is yellow-eyes McAngry-Face. He winces a little at that one even though he hadn't even said it out loud and now never will. It is… not one of his better comebacks, admittedly. Predictably, the Adonis who Lance now knows is called Shiro steps forward, still somehow seeming to glow so much so that Lance feels a little like he needs to squint to look directly at him. He still… isn't actually glowing, though, Lance thinks. It's weird. Shiro makes his brain hurt too, a little. “If Keith is in, then I'm in, too. I trust his judgment, and besides, if the prophecy is right then Altea will need us.”

“Well, then Matt and I are down, too, right, Matt?” Pidge asks her brother, a whirring lilt to her normally so familiar voice. Matt nods and steps forward to take his place next to Pidge, and Lance stares at the way he moves his horse legs, a little mesmerized. How is he doing that with his brain? He'll have to ask later.

Matt shrugs his bare shoulders, wiry torso muscles shifting with the movement. He offers a smug smile. “I may not be part of the ancient prophecy of old or whatever the quiznak it is, but I'm ready to give Zarkon hell all the same.” With that, the rest of the group shift their glances over to where Lance and Hunk stand next to each other.

Lance looks over and up at Hunk. Unfortunately, Hunk isn't looking back at him, and doesn't seem ready to any time soon. He's worrying his lip between his teeth, a nervous furrow set between his eyebrows, and Lance sighs. He can't push Hunk to decide before him when his buddy looks like that. He turns back to the group and plasters on a smile, assuring them, “Well, if Altea says she needs me, then who am I to deny her call? Of course I'll help, Allura.”

With that, Hunk is the only one left who hasn't said anything. Lance places a comforting hand on his arm to try and ground his buddy and Hunk thankfully returns to reality. Or, well, more accurately, virtual reality. “I'll do it,” he agrees simply, setting his jaw. “I'm in.”

Allura lets out a relieved breath and practically beams at all of them, the tension suddenly leaking out of her posture. “Oh, thank quiznak,” she breathes, and then recollects herself to turn to Coran. “Coran, could you get the bayards?” Coran nods to her, a weird stiff almost-bow nod, and turns to retreat from the room. He reappears several moments later with a polished wooden box stained a deep reddish brown color. He hands it off to Allura, who balances the box in the palm of one hand and uses her other hand to flip the top of the box open and reveal to them what lies inside of it.

On a white silk cushion in the box sit five very different rings. Lance knows how this ends- he's seen Lord of the Rings- but he still moves to call dibs on his favorite and grab it before the others can. Allura raises the hand that opened the box at him in warning, raising one threatening eyebrow, and he drops his hands sheepishly and backs away. It can wait, he supposes. She looks down at the rings pointedly. “These are your bayards. They were long ago enchanted by Altean scholars to respond to the paladins’ quintessence, and when you wear them, you will be able to call upon them to take the form of a weapon which best suits you.” Allura picks up the ring furthest to the right in the top row and hands it to Keith. “Keith, you are the red paladin. Shiro,” she grabs the pitch black ring from the center, “the black paladin and the leader as well, according to prophecy.” She grabs the green and copper ring from the left and hands it to Pidge, following that up with the golden ring in the bottom left. “Pidge. You shall function as the green paladin. Hunk, as the yellow paladin. And finally,” she states as she plucks the last ring from its resting place, “Lance. You are the blue paladin.” Lance takes the ring from her outstretched hand and holds it up in between his fingers to inspect it. It's silver, or at least he thinks it is, two intertwining waves of metal bands. The first wave is simply the silver metal whereas the second wave is inlaid with some kind of bright blue stone, Lance's money would be on sapphire. He lowers the ring from eye level and slides it onto his pointer finger. Ring finger just… doesn't feel _right,_ even in a virtual reality world.

He looks up at Allura only to find that she's staring at them all expectantly, her hands clasped together. Lance makes a face and subconsciously fiddles with the ring on his finger. Allura shrugs at them. “Well? Can you summon your bayards?”

Lance looks down at his ring, back up at Allura, over to the rest of the group and their rings, then to Allura again. Pidge voices the concern they all seem to be having, because she clears her throat mechanically and inquires, “How, exactly?” Lance nods in agreement, turning back to look at Allura.

Her face falls and her mouth drops open, but she seems to fumble to find the words because she flounders in silence for several seconds. “Um. Well. I don't know. I've never used one, I'm not a paladin. My father was, though, and he always seemed to just… ask it? Quiznak, that sounds foolish out loud, doesn't it,” Allura swears, casting her eyes down to the ground in frustration. She rubs one of her arms with her hand self-consciously.

Lance frowns. It's worth a try, at least, so he squints his eyes shut and just _thinks_ really hard about a bayard forming, he guesses. Whatever that is. A weapon, he supposes, according to Allura and Coran. He concentrates really hard for about half a minute on turning his ring into some kind of not-ring, but has no luck. He opens his eyes and is just about to tell Allura that he's sorry but it didn't work, so they _must_ have the wrong people, when all of a sudden there's a flash of bright light to his left. He immediately turns to see what he missed and finds Pidge standing there, holding a staff of dark, almost black, gnarled wood coated in a thick layer of moss. She stares at it almost reverently, holding it at arm's length and testing its weight in her hand like she fears it will disappear. She quickly looks up at Allura. “Is this what's supposed to happen?” She asks, eyes narrowing questioningly. Allura nods, eyeing Pidge’s staff equally as spellbound as the owner herself, and Pidge returns to ogling the object of interest.

Lance places his hands on his hips. He opens his mouth to ask her what he's sure they're all thinking but is cut off by Keith. “How did you do that?” He demands, grabbing at her hand where her ring sits as if it holds some kind of answer for him. Pidge snatches her hand back hastily and scowls at him, shooing him off, and he backs up a few steps but still peers between his ring and hers skeptically. Lance doesn't blame him.

“It was easy once I figured it out, really,” she scoffs at him, her cloak billowing behind her as she spins to swing her staff experimentally. “The bayards aren't so much of an _object_ per se as much as they are a consciousness. Kind of like me. Try asking nicely.” She then returns to experimental combat moves with her staff, a plan which could turn out not great in such a small space with so many people.

Lance is pretty sure just about everyone summons their bayards at the exact same time directly after that revelation from Pidge, but he's not sure because he's too busy focusing on his own to pay attention to anyone else. After he asks it, next thing he knows he's holding a gorgeous blue-and-silver bow, interwoven with lines of gold. The bowstring is an ethereal glowing blue and Lance isn't even sure it's real. It feels lighter than air.

He tests the weight of it in his hand, then quickly glances around to see what the others came up with. His eyes immediately fall on Keith, just because, well, it would be kinda hard for them not to. He's holding a big, nasty-looking broadsword that Lance would _not_ want to be on the business end of. Upon further inspection, the blade looks like it's glowing red-hot, but he doesn't want to jump to conclusions. So, he moves on. Hunk has a staff similar to Pidge’s, probably because they're both magic users, only his is birch wood and sprouts a collection of glistening yellowish crystals from the top. Shiro, on the other hand, has a relatively small weapon. It's a sickle, Lance thinks, meant to be held with one hand, and the edge glows with some kind of glimmering blue metal. There are intricate designs carved into the flat of the blade in that same blue metal, emanating a faint blue glow. Lance is mostly perplexed by it. He goes back to inspecting his own bow.

It's gorgeous, all sharp angles and has a grip that fits his hand perfectly. Like it was tailor-made for him. And it probably was, he realizes. He pulls back on the string experimentally and finds it draws back with no resistance at all, seeming to shimmer in and out of existence as it moves. He lowers it down to his waist and looks back up and around at where everyone else is still scrutinizing their new gear. “Hey, pointy,” he calls out, watching as Keith looks up in a very delayed manner at the nickname. His eyes narrow marginally but he continues looking Lance's way, which Lance counts as a victory, even though Lance himself still hasn't determined whether the nickname refers to the sword or the horns or the personality. He angles his head towards the blade of the sword. “Is that thing, like, _on fire,_ or what?”

“Dunno,” Keith shrugs, casting a cursory glance at the blade. “I could check.” Before Lance can say a word to stop him, he's moving his hand to the part of the blade that appears to be burning red hot- in fact, Lance is pretty sure it's giving off miniscule heat waves- and presses it to the flat of the blade. Lance can hear sirens going off in his head and he's pretty sure he's supposed to be hearing, like, the hissing of flesh melting off of a body right now. Keith, however, just withdraws his hand calmly and shrugs again. “It's pretty warm, I guess, so probably.”

Lance's mouth drops open in shock as he stares at him. “Probably?!” He chokes out. “Probably? How did you not just _die?_ What do you mean ‘probably?’” His eyes flicker back and forth from the sword to the boy's face, and to his horror, the corners of Keith's mouth begin to turn up into something akin to a smirk.

He raises an eyebrow at Lance and twirls his sword around in one hand, causing Lance to choke on his spit because _what the hell?!_ This game may give you a _lot_ of freebie skills, but it still requires brain-to-limb coordination for movement. If Lance tried to pull that off, he would have cut off at least one of his own hands and probably several other people's. _What?!_ Keith points to his horns briefly with a hand that Lance suspects is vaguely clawed. “I'm a tiefling. Resistant to fire damage. If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen, I guess,” he quips, wearing a look way too smug for Lance's liking. And okay. Lance knows a challenge when he sees one, and _that_ was clearly a challenge. But it's okay, because there's no way in hell he's just gonna let this guy get away with one-upping him with his sword like that. Lance will just have to prove he can do some really cool stuff too.

Right after he figures out how to do it, of course.

He huffs off Keith's retort and turns back to Allura haughtily. “Now what, Allura?” He asks, flexing his fingers restlessly against the fiber of his bow resting in his hand. She turns her back to them and crosses her arms, jutting out her bottom lip into a pout. She lifts the curtain to the side and peers out the window before casting a glance back over her shoulder. 

“Well, this is very important, of course, but it _is_ getting rather late. So perhaps we should get to bed for now and log out for the day. We can discuss our next course of action tomorrow when we log back in.” She turns back around and is met by a chorus of groans- mostly from Pidge, Matt, and himself; Lance is pretty sure. She frowns at them but straightens her posture and continues. “Ahem. In the meantime, you all should get some rest. The game exercises your neural stimuli exactly as the real world would, so you may be tired. So, I'll see you tomorrow then?” She asks, raising one eyebrow.

The group collectively nods their agreement, some more reluctantly than others (Lance _really_ wanted to get out there and start exploring, can you blame him) and Allura turns things over to Coran. He straightens and clears his throat, twirling his mustache. “Welcome to the Castle of Lions, esteemed guests! This will serve as your login or log out hub. Several of our beds here are imbued with ancient Altean healing magic, so if you get injured you can simply use one of those. Lastly, there will be a Castle of Lions in every major city you travel to along your journey, so be sure to stop in from time to time. Now if you'd like, I can show you where your rooms are?”

Coran doesn't even actually wait for an answer before leading the way down the hallway and up the stairs. The group seems to come to some sort of mutual agreement that they're meant to follow because they all take off after him a few seconds later. They get about halfway up the stairs before Matt's voice calls out from behind them, “Uh, hey, guys? I don't do stairs very well, with the whole four-legged centaur thing. Is there maybe a room down here that I can grab?” He stares at the stairs quizzically, a confused frown plastered onto his face. 

Coran waves him off, letting out a little chuckle as he does so. “Of course, Matt! Simply ask Allura- her quarters are right down the hall to your right. She should know a suitable place for you.” With that, Coran turns back around to begin traipsing up the stairs again, leaving the subtle clip-clop of hooves to fade into silence behind them. “Silly me,” Coran berates himself, “I always forget about the centaur accommodations!”

Lance turns to Hunk with an astounded look on his face. This game is really in-depth with its worldbuilding. Hunk shrugs at him with a little frown as if to say he has no clue, either. Lance shakes it off and follows Coran out into the second story hallway. “Okay,” Coran begins, “here we are! Paladins’ quarters. Shiro, this will be your room, since it's closest to the stairs in case of danger. Hunk, Pidge, you have those two rooms on the right, next to each other. And that leaves Lance and Keith with the rooms on the left side, at the end of the hallway. Goodnight! Sleep tight! Don't let the Kraalfengian Blood Worms bite!” And with those clever words and a wave, Coran heads off back down the stairs.

Pidge turns to the rest of them with a troubled look on her face once he's gone. “You don't think Kraalfengian Blood Worms are actually a real thing, do you?” She asks, glancing around the hall like she can spot one if she just looks hard enough.

Keith shrugs. “I don't know and I don't care. I'm heading to bed and logging off. See you guys tomorrow, I guess.” He gives a very half-hearted wave and turns on his heels to head to his room.

Lance is suddenly very annoyed by this action for no reason he can actively explain. He scowls and spins, speedwalking to his door. “Not if I log out and see you guys tomorrow first!” He argues, hand on the door handle.

Keith gives him a skeptical look, one eyebrow raised in confusion. “Okay, but good luck, man. Once my head hits the pillow, it's lights out for me.” He punctuates this statement with some sort of smug grin that only serves to further anger Lance. He whirls to face the door and flings it open.

“Well, we'll see who _wins_ then, huh?!” He shouts, slamming the door behind him as soon as he gets in the room. He winces at the noise it makes as it rattles the already minimal furnishings in the room. He sighs and trudges over to the bed. That was… real smooth of him.

He's gonna get an earful from Hunk and Pidge about that one after he logs out.

But for now, he figures he should probably focus on getting some sleep so he can log out. The only way the log-out screen shows up is if your character is sleeping, so he's gotta get that handy requirement out of the way first.

He closes his eyes and lets himself drift off, comforted, somehow, by the distant sound of lapping waves and feeling of the rain on his skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's finally introduced!  
> Just to clear up any confusion, here's a guide to everyone's species and class so you can try to keep it all straight. If you wanna know why I picked any of these, I'd be happy to explain! I also have sketches of how I envision all of them that I can share if anyone's curious to see. 
> 
> Lance- Water Genasi Bard  
> Keith- Tiefling Rogue  
> Pidge- Warforged Warlock  
> Hunk- Firbolg Sorcerer  
> Shiro- Aasimar Ranger  
> Matt- Centaur Monk  
> Allura- Wood Elf Druid
> 
> If you liked the chapter, leave a kudos and let me know!


	5. Giauzar

Lances wakes up abruptly, gasping awake and nearly falling out of bed feeling almost as though he's been struck by lightning. It takes him a few seconds to become aware of his surroundings, but after he does… he sees that he's still in his bed at the Castle of Lions. He's not in the real world at all. And it's morning. _Very_ early morning. 

He stands, rubs the sleep from his eyes, and stumbles out of his room, definitely still tired. When he gets into the hallway he finds Pidge already sitting there with a quill and a roll of parchment, hunched over on the floor against her door. Lance walks up to her blearily and sinks down onto the floor beside her. “Pidgey? What's goin’ on? Why are you still here?” His brain really isn't working yet.

Pidge gives him a cursory glance then goes back to whatever chickenscratch she's scribbling on the parchment. “Same reason as you, probably, doofus. Couldn't log out. Warforged don't need sleep, we just need to meditate for a while, so I didn't stay ‘meditating’ for long. I just came out here to brainstorm.” She places the tip of the quill to her mouth in thought before jotting something else down.

“Oh,” Lance blinks, “where are the others?” Thoughts feel heavy in his brain. He's just now putting together that Pidge is the only one he's talking to but there are a whopping seven of them playing.

Pidge shrugs but still doesn't look up. “Probably still asleep. It's pretty early from what I can tell. I went downstairs about an hour ago to check if either Allura or Matt were up but no dice. And I don't hear hooves or a very angry Allura yet so I think they're still asleep. Why?” She asks, finally glancing up at him and holding eye contact. Her empty eye sockets emanate a faint green glow.

Lance shrugs, leaning his head back against the wall and steepling his fingers in his lap. He closes his eyes lazily. “I dunno. Just realized they weren't here, is all.” He's quiet for several moments before he cracks one eye open and leans closer to Pidge’s parchment roll. It really is indecipherable- written in some kind of series of shorthand scribbles that Lance has no clue how to read. He opens his other eye and squints at it. He figures it’s not that important. “Have you figured out why we didn't log out?”

Pidge shrugs, making another line with her quill. “I have an idea, yes, but I'm waiting to comment on it until everyone wakes up. If one of us did manage to log out, then I'd need to re-hypothesize. We'll see.” She continues scratching out unknown characters onto parchment. Lance leans back against the doorframe again and sighs as he shuts his eyes.

“Well, okay,” he tells her, crossing his arms across his chest, “In that case, I'm gonna take another nap. Wake me up when everyone else gets up.” With that, he lets himself doze off again.

He dreams of shades of blue, of navies and teals and sky tones painting his field of vision.

“Lance?” He's summoned from his dreamscape by a call of his name and a gentle nudge to his side. He blinks his eyes open blurrily to find Pidge staring down at him. He seems to have somehow maneuvered in his sleep so he's propped against her shoulder, but she doesn't seem to care. “Lance, everyone else is awake and we need to go downstairs. Get off me.” He jerks up as he realizes with dawning horror that he's drooled all over her shoulder and stares at her with wide eyes. She just stands up, stretches the arm he'd been sleeping on, and looks down at him indifferently. “Are you coming or not? You seemed pretty eager to hear my idea this morning.”

Lance scrambles to get to his feet and follow after her down the stairs as she clutches her newly written parchment to her chest. She skips her way down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time, and Lance has to rush to keep up with her. How do her little legs move so fast? It's one of life's greatest mysteries, he thinks. He follows her out into the hallway and around the corner to some kind of kitchen. It's… quite the scene, to say the least. The first thing Lance notices is Allura, who stands at the head of the table with frizzy bedhead and an absolutely outraged expression. Hunk is standing hunched over the counter with a frying pan and a spatula, watching over some sizzling mystery meat. Shiro looks, inexplicably, just as put-together as he did yesterday, and he's sitting at the head of the table scanning over a book. Keith is next to him with dark-ringed eyes and a steaming mug of what Lance presumes is coffee, and Matt stands in the corner, trying to maneuver around the limited space behind the table with his hooved feet and extra limbs. They all look up at the sound of Lance and Pidge entering the room as if they've been caught red-handed doing _something._

Pidge tosses her parchment down onto the table triumphantly and yanks out a chair, taking a seat. “Read it and weep, losers,” she announces and clasps her hands together with no small amount of drama. They're made of metal so the motion makes a rather loud clanging noise. 

Lance scoffs as he takes the seat next to her. “I don't know what world you think you're living in, Pidge, but I'm not sure _anyone_ could read that. I saw it.”

Pidge shoots him a glare and nabs the scroll from where she threw it. She unravels it and turns it so it's facing him again, leveling him with a deadpan expression. “It's Infernal, you nimrod. I'm sure Keith, for example, can understand it just fine. _Some of us_ speak multiple languages.” Pidge shoots Keith an expectant glance and all of a sudden the whole room’s attention is on the tiefling as Pidge swings her parchment to be facing away from Lance and towards Keith. His eyes widen in shock and he seems to shrink down in his seat a little at the sudden shift.

He gulps and sets his coffee mug down, sliding it away from him with his fingertips. “Uh, yeah, I can understand it fine. Looks just like Pidge’s normal handwriting does. Why, what does it look like for you?” He turns back to Lance sheepishly and Lance opens his mouth to respond in kind before catching onto several key words and dropping his mouth open in accusation. Wait a minute- they _know_ each other! His eyes flicker back and forth between Pidge and Keith and he's just about to expose this horrible conspiracy when Allura clears her throat.

She's still standing imposingly at the head of the table with her hands on her hips and her hair all floofed up, which almost laughably does nothing to dispel the authority she radiates. Her eyes are narrowed angrily. Lance shuts his mouth immediately. “So _why_ , exactly, did we all fail to log out? A glitch of this level of importance should not have slipped by this late into testing.”

Pidge pushes her chair back and stands up, setting her parchment down. All eyes have turned back to her, waiting for her to explain. Even Hunk looks on in apprehension as he hovers over the frying pan. “According to my calculations, something must have gone wrong in the core coding of the game linked to the brain computer implant. That's the only way the game would have failed to trigger the log out screen appearance, seeing as that's a key event in the main programming.” She pauses and when she's met with silence, continues on, “That brings up the disturbing question of what our bodies are doing back in the real world. If we can't log out of the BCI, our bodies are probably trapped in some sort of comatose state where Altea is our brain's reality now. Since we can't file a bug report while in the game, I actually have no clue how to fix this.”

The silence is deafening. Lance blinks. It's a lot to take in, that's for sure. They're trapped here? He doesn't really know how to process it, to be completely honest.

“That can't be right!” Allura eventually screeches, her fists clenching and unclenching in stress and her eyes squeezed shut, and everyone whirls around to look at her. She's almost trembling. “This isn't what's supposed to happen at all! My father would never allow such a safety breach in his coding! It just… isn't _safe_!” She looks to be on the verge of tears. She finally sinks down into a chair, shoulders slumped. All falls quiet again as everyone tries to process what they've been told. 

Lance is the first to speak up after that display, surprisingly. He isn't even sure his voice will work, but he gives it a chance and rasps, “But what now, though? How _do_ we get out?”

And just like that, everyone's staring at him. He slides down in his seat a little, trying to retreat from eyesight. Pidge frowns, shaking her head. “I don't know, Lance. There is no emergency reset button, this is our _brains_ we're talking about. We can't just get out with a snap of our fingers or the push of a button like some other game.” She sits back down and leans her head onto the table, suddenly looking very thoroughly defeated.

“What if we just… kept going with the quest?” Matt pipes up from the corner of the kitchen where he's stuck. “We've gotta run into an NPC at some point who's far enough up in the Garrison chain of command that they can relay word back to Allura’s dad about the trouble that we're in. I mean, the actors can't all be stuck too, or else the game would have already been shut down, right?” Matt takes a few echoey hoofsteps forward on his way to try and comfort his sister before again becoming entangled in chair legs and needing to back up.

The room brightens visibly at that suggestion. Pidge perks up, sitting straight up. “That might work, Matt! An actor working at Garrison could file a bug report _for_ us, and then we'd be able to get out. But,” she hesitates, losing some of her steam as she slumps over marginally more, “we'd have to be incredibly careful if we plan to keep playing on the original quest path. Altea is designed to have integrated combat. With the state of our comatose brains interpreting this as our reality... it's extremely likely that if one of us dies in Altea, we'd die for good.”

She is again met by deafening silence, but if possible the mood is even more somber this time. Lance's immediate resounding reaction is that _he doesn't want to die_. He has things he still wants to do, and he doesn't want to die in some video game before he gets the chance to do any of it. It's sobering, really.

Keith grabs his mug again, and the sound of porcelain against the table echoes around the room. The boy in question sets his jaw stubbornly and states, “Well, we were already planning to go on the quest, right? We'll just have to be more careful now.” With that, he takes another sip of his coffee.

The rest of the room doesn't seem as assured, but Allura clears her throat and sighs, “I guess we better get down to it, then, huh.” She leans her head against her arm for a moment tiredly and then draws in a deep breath. “Okay. Our next order of business is to find the five beasts sometimes spoken of in Altean myth which can only be awakened by the five heroes of legend.” Her lips quirks down into a frown. “The only problem is that, as usual, the Altean myths are very evasive about where they can be found. The old rhyme goes,  
 _‘A sunken cavern filled with silver;  
A mountainside the enemies pilfer;  
Slumbering inside the living;  
Deep in tunnels of creatures life-giving;  
And close to home the beasts are found,   
Only then shall the false king be uncrowned.’”_

Lance immediately groans. _More_ confusing poems? He purses his lips in thought when Shiro speaks up. “So do we have maps? And do we know where these places might be at all?” He's set his book down and closed it with his hands clasped over the cover.

Allura runs her hands through her hair, taming it fractionally in the process. She looks up with a huff. “Coran might have some idea. And he definitely has maps. I can go get him, I suppose. I'll be back soon.” She stands up and draws away from the table, stalking back into the hallway. As soon as she's gone, Lance slumps over onto the table onto one of his arms and starts idly tracing patterns in the wood grain. Keith shoots him a disgruntled look and he sticks his tongue out at him.

“Alright, almost-bacon’s ready,” Hunk announces, turning from the stove and setting a bowl down on the tabletop. He wipes his hands off on his apron self-satisfactorily and takes a seat of his own. “Dig in.” Lance straightens immediately and snatches a piece of bacon from the bowl before any other hands can close in, shoving it into his mouth. He grabs another one just as quickly and shoots Hunk a thumbs up.

As soon as he manages to chew and swallow, he assures his friend, “This is great, Hunk! I think you've got the cooking mechanics down.”

Hunk waves him off bashfully and shrugs, his ears twitching interestingly from… embarrassment? Shyness? Something of the like, probably? “Oh, it's more thanks to the game than me, honestly. The cooking is just like real life- all I had to do was figure out the ingredients and how to use them.” He says this fact as if that still isn't an absolute feat on its own.

“It’sh better than either of ush could make in a lifetime, really,” Keith assures Hunk out of the corner of his very full mouth, and Lance recoils. Keith thankfully swallows his food before he continues, elbowing Shiro, “This guy here once caught our kitchen on fire trying to boil _water_.”

Lance snorts, ignoring how Shiro shoots Keith a scandalized look. It's refreshing to remember that hot people aren't perfect. He holds his hands up though, calling time out to the conversation. “Hold up.” Everyone obeys, freezing what they're doing. Gradual crunching noises come from Hunk’s direction (Lance thinks he's trying to chew discreetly, bless his heart) but other than that it's silent. “ _You_ know Pidge.” He points at Keith in accusation and the boy nods, his yellow eyes blown wide. Lance notices his few hoop earrings jingle together in his ears when he nods. It's cute. The earring noise thing, of course, not Keith himself. That would be weird. He blinks himself away from that train of thought and back to where he was. “And _you two_ live together?” He points between Shiro and Keith, and they both nod in affirmation this time. Lance massages his temples before looking back up. “Okay. Explain to me how everyone knows each other because I must be missing something, and my head hurts.”

Pidge takes up the torch on this one, leaning her head forward boredly and droning, “Keith and Shiro are brothers and roommates. My brother used to date _him_ ,” she points at Shiro with an accusatory finger, “so I was forced to hang out with _him_ ,” this time Keith gets the accusatory jab. “We kept in touch, and I think Allura has the apartment across from Shiro and Keith's in their complex. Did I miss anything?” She asks, eyes darting between the trio.

Shiro shrugs dismissively. “Nah, I think that's pretty much all of it. Good job, Pidge,” he praises her nonchalantly, grabbing another piece of maybe-bacon in the process. 

It's at this point that Allura returns, her arms filled to the brim with dozens of rolled up maps and Coran trailing sheepishly behind her. She dumps them onto the table unceremoniously and reclaims her seat with no small degree of exhaustion, slumping over the table. She looks up after a few seconds. Her eyes appear ringed in red and a little teary, and Lance isn't sure what's up but he's not sure how much Allura would appreciate him mentioning it. “Each of you is free to grab a map, there's plenty of them. Coran, could you explain the details? I actually think I need to… step out for a moment.” Just as abruptly as she sat down in the first place, Allura stands back up, causing the chair to screech out behind her jarringly. She brushes at her eyes and briskly turns to rush back out of the room.

The whole group watches her go before turning to Coran almost in synchrony. Lance furrows his eyebrows in both question and concern but Coran just clears his throat. “The princess will be fine. She's simply… going to be working through a few things for a while now, I believe. She will be okay, though, I'm sure of it. She's strong.” He clears his throat a second time, beginning to look a little teary-eyed himself. It suddenly hits Lance, hard, that this man is a real person portraying an NPC, and that he is really talking to them right now. He wonders if he actually knows Allura. He makes a mental note to remember to ask one of them later. “Anyways,” he continues, “we have a few guesses as to where the creatures in the myth are located, so we will check those locations first. For the most part, you'll all be splitting up into pairs for these tasks, but you will complete the first one together since we are almost certain of the beast’s location. We believe it is located in an underwater cave system below the human city of Riverrun, so that will be your destination for today.” Coran hesitates and wrings his hands together. “I also believe that… Princess Allura will be sitting this one out, considering the current circumstances. My apologies.”

Hunk waves the man off, dismissing his sad, apologetic face. “No need to be sorry, Coran. We understand that whatever’s going on with Allura isn't your fault or hers, and we'll give her all the time she needs. Just let us know where we're going, and we'll be on our way.” Hunk smiles at Coran gently and the man brightens considerably. Lance internally tacks on that they will give Allura all the time she needs within reason. He would love to give her all the time in the world to get over whatever it is that apparently has her so upset, but he also very much does not want to die inside of a video game. So.

Coran spreads one of the maps out across the table, gesturing to them each to take one of their own. Lance helps himself, unraveling his smaller version of the map to look at it. Coran points a finger down onto a settlement marked on the map labeled _Arus_. “We are here,” he states, circling his finger around the artfully inked city. He then slides his finger a little ways to the left and up, pointing to a new, larger town, labeled _Riverrun_. “You _want_ to be here. Luckily, there is a traveler's road directly through the Arusian desert that should allow you to make it to Riverrun in several hours’ time. You'll simply need to ensure that you have a supply of water, because conditions in the Arusian desert can be harsh. Also, make sure you have all your various fighting implements, because there may be hostile creatures along the road.” Coran lets the map snap shut back into its former rolled state. “Are there any questions?”

Pidge raises her hand but she lowers it almost immediately as though she hadn't expected to need to raise it in the first place. “Uh, yeah, once we get to Riverrun, then where are we going? Is there like a big sign pointing to this thing?” She peers at her map like she expects some quest marker to pop up if she stares for long enough. Lance almost doesn't blame her. He finds it a little strange to be in such a touch-and-go game himself.

“Excellent question, Pidge! You see, Riverrun is a canal city, and transportation is facilitated exclusively by boat. There is no other way to travel. Once there, you will need to acquire a boat and take it directly to the center of the settlement. There should be a rock formation much like a mountain peak rising from the city's center. You'll want to enter it through one of the drainage tunnels. It sounds odd, but it should take you into the cave system and lead you to the first beast. From there, one of you should be able to determine what to do. And if you need me, one of you magic-using lot can simply send a message to me and I'll get back to you in a jiffy,” Coran promises, swinging his fist in a hook motion. Lance blinks incredulously. This is just… gonna be his world for the time being, and it's so much. It's very overwhelming, to be thrust into a world so suddenly where reality is so starkly different from their own.

Lance shakes his surprise off, rolling his own map back up and holding onto it for now. It occurs to him that he _did_ have a bag to put it in, but he left it at the inn he was at before. Lance stretches and stands, gesturing vaguely at the door. “Well, then we'd better get going, right? Besides, I need to swing by the inn I was at before we leave and grab my guitar.” It's again jarring how natural it feels to say that. Lance can't even _play_ guitar in real life. Not that he wouldn't take the opportunity to learn if it presented itself, but it never has. He wonders distantly how the music playing mechanic will work, since he has no knowledge of music on any technical level. He guesses he'll find out pretty soon.

The rest of the group follows, moving to stand and stretch and agreeing that several of them need to make pit stops to grab things, and pretty soon they're on a trek across the city of Arus. In broad daylight, the city is filled with the hustle and bustle of the Arusian kobolds, small reptilian creatures that seem overly friendly for their somewhat prickly appearance. Lance has to admit, though, they are pretty cute. After they pick up his guitar and bag, marking the last stop on their romp through the town, they beeline for the Arusian desert. Riverrun is already within sight, luckily, a glimmering blue and green oasis at the end of the expanse of desert stretching in front of them. As Coran promised, they do make it across the desert in only a few hours, but Lance is positively parched by the time they do, and he's actually _been_ regularly drinking water. He's pretty sure it's on account of him being a water genasi, but it's not like he has any way to confirm his suspicion.

The gates of Riverrun loom ominously above them, but they must just be for show, because they stroll into the city without so much as a second glance from a guard. (And they are _quite_ the odd bunch to be inconspicuously entering a human city, in Lance's opinion.)

Coran was right that Riverrun is a canal city- it evokes thoughts of Venice, complicated canals all interwoven in a path to reach buildings rising out of the water and the mountainous centerpiece of the city. There's a boat waiting at the end of the pier which looks remarkably similar, again, to gondolas from Venice. “How much?” Shiro asks the boat vendor, who answers back automatically that it's several gold pieces. Surprisingly, it's Keith who reaches into his bag and counts them up to fork them over, which Lance had for sure not been expecting. In his experience, Keith doesn't necessarily seem the generous type. The vendor trades them the oars and the group clambers in, prepared to take off.

Well, all except Matt, that is. The poor older Holt sibling remains standing on the edge of the pier, nervously shifting his weight between his incredibly alien four legs. “I forgot about the whole centaur thing,” he apologizes, and Pidge snorts loudly. “I don't know how to get on the boat like this. I'll wait for you here, I guess.”

Pidge gives him a two-fingered salute, one of the lights of her eyes fizzling out for a moment in what can only be meant as a wink. “Okay, well, we’ll meet you back here then,” she cuts off with another snort which is actually closer to a high-pitched buzzing noise from her robotic avatar, “you really fucked yourself over, Matt. Good luck figuring out those legs.” She then grabs one of the oars and pushes them off from the dock, cutting the oar through the water to further propel them.

Lance grabs the other oar and starts rowing alongside her until they've got the boat traveling at a steady speed and Matt is just a dot on the pier. The canals are surprisingly broad, and Pidge and Lance navigate them towards the center outcropping like Coran instructed them. They reach it in good time, and slow their speed as they pull up alongside it. Hunk frowns from near the back of the gondola. “What do we do now?” He inquires.

“I guess we just keep circling the center until we find the opening Coran mentioned and then go from there,” Lance suggests, shrugging with the oar now gripped in both hands. Pidge nods soundly like she believes this is a good enough plan and so they both set off to start rowing again, Lance picking up the slack this time to allow them to make an arc around the rock.

They row for another minute or so before they come upon a large cavernous opening in the rock. Lance dips his oar into the water and holds it there until they slow to a stop. “This has gotta be it, right? We just turn in here and the beast should be somewhere inside,” Pidge reasons, already preparing her oar to start rowing again.

Lance shrugs. “Sounds about right to me. It's now or never, I guess.” He picks up rowing again and Pidge joins in, and together they turn the gondola until it's aimed into the cave. Inside, the passage narrows considerably and the lighting in the cave somehow makes the water shimmer with an ethereal light. They row cautiously until the passage widens out into a large lake-like formation inside the cavern, with crystalline stalagmites and stalactites clinging to the floor and ceiling of the room. The water in the pool is crystal clear, and deep below the surface lies another cave opening. There is nowhere else to go from the lagoon; it seems they've reached a dead end.

“Did we take a wrong turn somehow?” Pidge asks. The words sound a little distant and off to Lance's ears, like she's further away than she really is. A little like she's underwater, actually. He can't seem to tear his eyes away from the underwater cave entrance for some reason.

Somebody sighs and leans over the side of the boat where Lance is, but he can't bring himself to look and see who it is. The boat sways a little with the shift in weight from one side to another. “I think whatever it is is down in that cave under the water.” There's a blurry red-tinged hand pointing in the general direction of the cave in Lance's peripheral vision, so it must be Keith speaking. “I'm not sure how we get to it though.”

Lance leans farther and farther out over the water, eyes zeroing in on the entrance. Something inside of it is calling out to him. Something that sounds an awful lot like a voice he thinks he heard in his dreams last night and again this morning, whispering to him in the form of the water lapping at the beach during high tide and the rain hitting the ground in the first storm after a drought. It's a soothing voice. He cautiously dips his hand into the aquamarine water, sending ripples throughout the cavernous room.

As soon as the first ripple hits the wall of the cave, it lights up glowing blue like a Christmas tree. Intricate carvings swirl across the wall, managing to steal Lance's attention for a millisecond, but his eyes snap back to the cave opening just as fast as they left. Gasps fill the air behind him. Lance stands up, causing the boat to rock violently, and he moves closer to the edge. “Lance, _what are you doing_?” Keith's voice asks him, and he feels a distinctly clawed hand lock onto his leg from next to him. He shakes it off, not bothering to look away from the cave- the magnetic pull is too strong- and smoothly begins to step over the edge of the gondola, eyes trained down. “ _Lance_!” Keith screeches, and Lance feels hands scrabbling at his jacket as he plunges under the water. The jacket slips off of his arms as he kicks deeper into the water, hearing multiple alarmed cries from above him.

What he guesses they don't know is that he'll be fine- his gills flare open as soon as he runs out of air to breathe. He continues to make his way towards the cave, which croons to him inside his mind. Or rather, whatever's _in_ the cave croons to him. He swims inside the cave opening and finds an air pocket waiting for him. He breaches the surface and pushes himself up out of the water, stepping onto the cave floor. In front of him slumbers a massive dragon, curled in on itself and surrounded by the same glistening stalactites and stalagmites as in the cave up above. Lance knows he should feel fear… normally, he probably would. But the voice from before is whispering to him- in words he can understand now, urging him to come closer.

_“I've been waiting for centuries,”_ the voice laments, and Lance steps closer. _“Come to me, paladin. Awaken me. Free me.”_ Lance continues to step closer until he stands right in front of the dragon's large head, the water dripping off of his clothes echoing loudly in the silent chamber. He places his hand to the dragon's muzzle and suddenly it's eyes snap open, big and wide and impossibly blue, and she nuzzles into his hand with a quite frankly adorable chirp. The inexplicable thrall over Lance is gone as suddenly as it had began, and the dragon whispers to him in his consciousness once again. _“I waited for you for so long, Lance McClain. My blue paladin.”_ She sounds incredibly fond. He knows he should be freaking out, should be questioning how she knows his name, but he just feels calm. _She_ feels calm, so he feels calm as well. 

Lance steps back a little as the dragon rises to her feet and shakes herself off, droplets of water fleeing from her iridescent silver scales. They catch the light as they soar through the air, seeming to hang suspended there for several moments before falling to the ground. She blinks at him as she stretches her wings. “Do _you_ have a name?” He calls up to her, wanting something to call her. No, _needing_ something to call her.

She stretches lithely, looking inexplicably like a cat, and shoots him a look that Lance thinks seems rather smug. _“I am called Blue.”_ She lowers herself to a height where he can clamber onto her back and looks at him expectantly. _“Do you want to get your friends out of here the fast way, little one?”_

Lance feels his face split into a grin. He's gonna get to ride a dragon. Holy shit, he's gonna get to ride a _dragon._

He climbs onto her back with little difficulty, gripping to the ridge along her spine tightly. With a powerful flap of her wings, she rises into the limited airspace, warning him, _“Duck,”_ as she folds her wings in and above him and breaks through the wall above the cave, bursting into the initial pool in the higher cavern. Her sudden entrance disrupts the surface of the lake a good amount, and Lance feels bad for laughing but he can't contain himself as he watches the gondola and all his friends get toppled over and sent into the water. Keith shoots him a glare but his expression quickly changes into one of awe as he realizes that Lance is perched atop a dragon.

“Guys,” Lance declares proudly, “meet Blue.”

Instead of the quietly shocked awe he'd been expecting, he hears a small groan from Hunk, who is treading water several feet from the overturned gondola. “Lance. You named your dragon _Blue?_ This is the Fluffy situation all over again.” Lance stares at his best friend in indignation.

He feels a shock of outrage course through Blue as well and she huffs underneath him. He purses his lips. “Excuse you Hunk, but this dragon named herself and you've just insulted her. Besides, Fluffy is a perfectly good and acceptable name for a cat, thank you very much.”

Pidge grunts from where she is clinging to the edge of the gondola for dear life and rolls her eyes. “I don't care what it's name is, just get us out of here! Metal doesn't float, you know, and I don't look forward to sinking to the bottom of this lake.”

Lance takes a second to silently mock her before nudging Blue with his mind to swoop in and pick them up. Their screams echo as she plucks them from the water with her claws but they quickly quiet once they realize she's just carrying them because she has no way to get them on her back from the water. Blue snorts inside Lance's mind, and when he questions her, she teases, _“They won't like their own beasts’ names, then. We are all a matched set.”_ Lance can guess what she's getting at, and he has to hold in his laughter at the idea of Hunk’s righteous fury of being told by a dragon that it's name is a _primary color._

They make a pit stop to grab Matt, who also needs to be snatched up in Blue’s claws due to the whole centaur issue. Lance is pretty sure they also traumatize the boat vendor, but that's okay. He thinks the guy probably overcharged them anyways.

With that, Blue’s swooping back to Arus and heading home towards the Castle of Lions. It's strange, Lance reflects, how quickly he's come to think of it as home. He's only been stuck for a day. He supposes it's more so the knowledge that it _will_ be his home.

… He can _maybe_ get used to it, but it'll never really be home, he thinks. Not in any of the ways that matter.

_“It will be okay,”_ Blue’s voice startles him by cutting into his inner monologue and he almost loses his grip on her back. _“You will make it through this, I promise. I can sense your mind is weighted down with worries despite it being early in your journey. I can assure you, me and my brethren will not allow any of those worries to come to pass.”_ Lance feels a spike of protectiveness course through Blue and it warms him to his core. He's just met her, and yet he can already sense how fully she cares about him. It's endearing.

The wind buffets his hair as they close in and swoop down towards Arus, and a question occurs to Lance. “Blue?” He asks, watching how her webbed ears perk up at her name and swivel towards him. “Are you an actor, too? What are you?”

Lance feels a hum of resignation resound in his brain, and she considers. _“I am what you would call AI,”_ she answers finally. Lance is shocked- he thought there were no AI characters in the game. Blue must feel his surprise, because she clarifies, _“Alfor coded me and the others as a personal experiment. We were created to protect you all, and that is what we will do.”_

He still can't help but feel a little shocked. The game was billed as an AI-free experience, and here is perhaps what could be one of the most advanced AI ever, from the way she talks, hidden for only them to find. It's a little earth-shattering. Blue swoops in for a landing in an open field outside of Arus and drops the whole rest of the gang to the ground before daintily landing on her feet. They hit the dirt with various different grunts and noises of moderate pain, but it can't be that bad because she didn't drop them from that high. Lance slides down her hide and onto the ground with a spongy thud and dusts himself off. Blue, likewise, shakes herself off much like a wet dog would.

He walks up to her muzzle and leans into her, wrapping his arms around her. “Thanks, girl. You're the best.” She makes the same chirping noise as before and preens under the attention, nudging herself further into his embrace.

He hears a derisive snort from behind him. “The best? Your dragon dropped us all on our asses after carrying us like a big Katamari ball in her claws!” Keith has sat up from where he landed on the ground, and he's staring between Lance and Blue with no small amount of disbelief in his eyes. Lance tightens his grip around Blue protectively, running a hand down her nose comfortingly.

“Hey. She just had no other way to pick you all up. Don't blame her for her physique, that's body shaming, Keith,” he huffs, finally pulling himself away from Blue and walking over to where his friends are scattered across the terrain. He begins offering his hand to people, pulling them up from where they fell. “Don't be jealous of my lady,” Lance tacks on with a smirk as he yanks Keith to his feet. The tiefling glares at him, eyes flitting over to Blue for a second before crossing his arms and stalking away, ponytail (and regular tail) swishing angrily behind him.

Pidge wanders over to inspect Blue, who in turn eyes the small warforged warily. Pidge leans in close and peers at Blue's scales before pulling back and turning to Lance in shock. “How did you _do_ this?” She asks, voice filled with awe. “How did you do _any_ of that? You scared us half to death when you jumped off the boat.”

Lance scratches the back of his head sheepishly, kicking at some rocks on the ground. “Yeah… sorry about that,” he apologizes. “Blue was calling to me. I'm a water genasi, so if I'd been in my right state of mind I could have told you that it wouldn't have been an issue anyways because of my gills. So I swam down there, and there was an air pocket in the cave and Blue was there. I woke her up and the trance ended and she thanked me. That's _also_ when she told me _her name._ ”

Lance hears Hunk stage-whisper to himself in mortification over by Matt, “Oh my god. He wasn't joking about the dragon telling him its name was Blue.”

“She speaks to you? How do you understand her?” Pidge whirls to face him now, all her attention coming down on him like a righteous fury. He backs up, eyebrows raised.

He gestures between himself and Blue with his hand, shrugging. He's honestly still not sure _how_ exactly it works, but the fact remains that if he thinks about it, he's been hearing Blue since the moment he stepped foot in Altea. “She doesn't really _speak_ to me, per se,” Lance explains helplessly, “It's more like some kind of telepathic link. She seems to be able to tell what I'm thinking and feeling, and she projects her own thoughts and feelings into my brain in return. I think.” Blue sends over a wave of approval right at that moment, so Lance thinks he must have gotten _something_ right. “Like there,” he tacks on, sensing the perfect moment to give an example. “She was happy about something, so I can be fairly certain I got something right. Although sometimes it's actual words and not just feelings. It's tricky.”

The whole rest of the group stares at him open-mouthed, and he draws back self-consciously. “Well.” He looks up at the sky, which is rapidly darkening as the sun sets. “I think we ought to get back to the Castle of Lions, don't you all?” Everyone shifts, and a few of them look like they want to argue but can't since it really is getting late. Lance steps back to Blue for a second. “Where are you staying for the night, girl? Will you be okay out here?” She gives him a long-suffering look before there's a blinding flash and in the place of Blue the dragon rests a lean snow leopard, sitting back on its haunches proudly.

Lance gapes at it. Her. Whatever. _“Us dragons have a few tricks up our sleeves,”_ she informs him, and then she pads into the city, leading the way. Lance has to rush to catch up and the rest of the group trails behind him, even more confused.

By the time they make it to the castle, the sun has set and the stars are out. Lance opens the door and holds it as everyone traipses inside, followed by Blue. They're greeted enthusiastically by Coran, who rushes out of the hallway already dressed in his night clothes despite the fact that the sun is only just setting. “Oh!” He claps his hands together, eyes falling onto Blue immediately. “This is the beast the legends spoke of? I thought for sure it would be… bigger.” He doesn't seem disappointed by this issue, only perplexed. Blue’s amusement rattles around Lance's brain like a well-meaning laugh.

Lance steps forward and places a hand on Blue's back, who in turn arches into his touch. Blue is certainly very affectionate, but maybe that's just how all dragons are, so he dismisses it. “She's a dragon, Coran. She's just… changed her shape somehow,” Lance informs him as Blue nuzzles her head into his side in what is now an entirely cat-like fashion, purring like a motorboat. He didn't even know big cats _could_ purr. Or, well, maybe they can't, and it's just a game feature, but it would be quite the interesting thing to program into your AI, Lance thinks. Weird.

Coran’s eyes widen marginally and he steps forward to look over Blue, walking a circle around her and Lance before clapping his hands together quite abruptly and startling the both of them. “Excellent! A dragon will be a great help in the battle against Zarkon. She can stay in the stables while you all get some rest for the night!”

Blue raises her hackles quite suddenly, baring her teeth and growling. A resounding disapproval to this idea fills Lance's head as she presses herself closer to him. He places a comforting hand on her back and pets down her spine. She relaxes quickly under his touch. “I think she'd rather stay with me in my room if that's okay, Coran. She won't do any harm.” Coran raises his hands in surrender and steps aside from where he'd been blocking the hallway. Blue nudges him and stalks up the stairs. He looks back at everyone, helpless. “See you all tomorrow, I guess, guys.” Hunk shoots him a tentative wave and Keith pouts again, refusing to make eye contact. Probably still jealous Lance found his dragon first.

That's right, Lance realizes, as he opens the door to let Blue into his room, he didn't even tell the others that he knows the rest of the dragons each belong to one of them. They're gonna be so pissed… unless he just never tells them he knew, he supposes. That's an option. He settles into his bed only to have Blue pounce onto the comforter on top of him a split second after he'd pulled it over himself, walking circles until she's comfortable. She settles down and Lance shoots her a deadpan stare. “You are much too large to be sleeping on my legs,” he chastises. She closes her eyes pointedly. “I know you understand me, you jerk. My legs are going to be dead tomorrow and it will be all your fault. Enjoy it while you can.” He feels a telltale tickle of amusement in the back of his brain, and he huffs and rolls over to turn the lights out. “Good night, Blue,” he tells her, shutting his eyes for the night.

She responds with the same lullabye she treated him to the last two times. Rain and the ocean and rivers and snow and the color blue in general, all reaching out to Lance and soothing him. It's wonderful, kind of like being cradled by the sky. That is, until he wakes up, gets out of bed, and promptly falls over onto his face. His legs are, of course, completely numb. He looks around for Blue to glare at her but she doesn't seem to be around. He can still feel her in the back of his mind, so she must be okay. She's just not here. He wonders how she even got out.

He stumbles down into the kitchen on uncertain legs and makes a beeline for the maybe-coffee that Keith had been drinking yesterday. “Rough night?” Shiro asks, who Lance previously had not noticed sitting at the table along with Keith, Hunk, and Pidge. Wow, he's _really_ tired. Maybe no more snow leopards allowed in bed. Lance just groans in response, staring angrily at the strange coffee apparatus. Shiro whistles and flips a page in his book. “You must have slept really bad if you can't even form words.”

Lance grabs at the coffee as soon as it's done and shuffles over to the closest empty seat at the table, which unfortunately happens to be next to Keith. He sips his maybe-coffee. It's not half bad. Very hot, scalding even, but not bad. Keith sends him an appraising look. “Where's your dragon?” He asks witheringly.

Lance just shrugs, cupping the coffee mug in both of his hands and drawing it closer. “I dunno. I'm not her keeper. Woke up and she was gone.”

This is apparently _not_ the right answer, because very quickly he is met by four pairs of horrified eyes. “You _lost your dragon_?” Pidge screeches in disbelief. She and Hunk exchange a look, one that Lance unfortunately knows very well. He hates that look. It's the _god damn it, Lance_ look. 

“Please,” he scowls at them, taking another sip of his drink. It still burns his mouth. “I didn't _lose_ her. And she's not even _mine_ in the first place! Blue is her own dragon. She's probably just out exploring or something, she _has_ been asleep for ten thousand years.” He shrugs, pushing the mug away. He'll have to keep the coffee out of arms’ reach until it cools, then. For his own safety. 

The table visibly relaxes at this assurance, so Lance leans back in his seat as well. It's nice and quiet for a few minutes until Coran strolls in, already impeccably well-groomed. He joins them at the table. “Alright paladins, today's tasks will be handled by the five of you alone! Allura is still… recovering, and Matt has informed me he wants to take the day to try and figure out the use of his equine half.” Pidge snickers at this and possibly interjects an insulting name, but nobody calls her out. Coran continues, “For today, you will be splitting up. Keith and Hunk, Shiro and Pidge, and Lance on aerial with his dragon. The teams of you will be scoping out the locations the rest of the beasts are thought to be hidden. These teams are very strategic- Lance, you're transportation and extraction. Hunk and Pidge, you're each team's magical link. You two should be able to contact Lance, wherever he is, and maintain it, should you need to. Keith and Shiro, you're the firepower.”

Coran pulls a map out from under his arm and spreads it across the table before going on, “Each team will be visiting two locations today to cover more ground. Shiro and Pidge, you will be visiting the Olkarion forest, but more specifically a clearing near the Dax’thaar Firbolg colony and a cave not far from the former Kingdom of the Altean wood elves. I shall mark the relative spots on your maps.” He turns to Hunk and Keith. “You two, your mission may be more dangerous, but I believe it will go fine. Your destinations are the tunnels of Balmera, and then a cave somewhere in the Enderi Mountains. The Enderi Mountains are under Galra control and whichever beast is there may well be guarded heavily be Galra, so you will have to be strategic in your removal of it.” Coran finishes talking and wraps up his map, glancing at Lance of all people after he's done. “Do you think you can get them there, my boy?”

Lance blinks in surprise, but quickly shakes it off and plasters on a determined smile. “I'm sure I can, Coran.” He turns to look at the others and finds that they look just as determined as he does. “Are we ready to go?” He asks, standing up.

“Ready as we'll ever be,” Hunk answers, looking like he's swallowing down some nerves. Lance pats him on the back consolingly and heads out the door, ready to go kick some ass if it comes down to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Things are really picking up now- we're finally getting into the main plot of this story! I've been waiting to post this chapter for a long while!
> 
> Allura's outburst will be explained, I promise. If it seems like she's written out if character, there's a reason.
> 
> Also, the lions are dragons! I did want to give them alternate forms, though, so I used the old shape-shifting dragon lore in order to sort of work in the lion bit. But I didn't just want to make them all lions? It didn't seem true to the world I was building. So. Big cats it is.
> 
> If you liked this chapter, leave a kudos or drop me a comment! I love hearing from you guys and I'd be happy to answer any questions!


	6. Alcyone

Lance does his best to call out to Blue with his mind and ask her to show up- after all, he knows she can read his thoughts. A few terrifying seconds pass by where they all stand in silence outside the Castle of Lions when Lance is afraid she won't show up and he'll be humiliated, but then she swoops down from the sky and lands gracefully in front of them, tucking her wings in neatly to fit between all the buildings. She bends down again and makes a rumbling sound deep in her throat, and Lance's brain fills with her impatience and excitement and affection. He turns to the group before climbing on, and explains. “She's in a hurry for some reason. She wants us to get on, like, now.” After that comment, nobody wastes any time clambering onto Blue's back and she lifts up into the sky with a powerful flap of her wings once more.

Lance does his best to convey through his thoughts where everyone needs to be dropped off for their quest, but she brushes him off. She already seems to know where she's going, steadily and silently heading towards a vast expanse of forest in the distance.

When they touch down at the edge of the forest, Lance hastily apologizes to Shiro and Pidge on behalf of Blue. “She's sorry,” he relays to them. “She can't drop you off in the middle of the forest because it would tear up her wings. Believe me, she wishes she could.” They accept the apology easily- Pidge mostly just looks happily stupefied to be on the receiving end of an apology from a dragon in the first place. 

They take off again, this time heading to the Enderi Mountains. Blue seems particularly enthusiastic about this stop. When she touches down as close to the Galra camp as they can possibly get without giving Keith and Hunk away, she practically begs to go with. She dances back and forth on her front limbs impatiently, hopping about and swerving like a snake as she pleads with him. Lance issues her a very firm no, because they are _supposed_ to be the eyes in the sky, damn it. Not because he doesn't want to go with. He definitely does. He just can't let everyone down, not when he's already not cut out for the job in the first place. He has to prove himself. So he and Blue drop Hunk and Keith off in the mountains, wish them luck, and take off again to circle around in the sky.

Blue lazily flies laps around the terrain in between the two rendezvous points, high above the ground. She suddenly cranes her neck around to look at him, startling him, and harrumphs. _“You can let go of my spines, you know,”_ she chortles, _“You won't fall. You physically can't, unless you wish to. You are my rider, if you wish to stay on my back then you shall.”_ Lance blinks in surprise and looks down at where his hands are wrapped around two of the ridges protruding from her spine in a death grip. He very self-consciously watches his hands flex and relax before removing them cautiously, hesitantly. When he doesn't feel even the slightest bit like he's going to fall, he calms down. He shifts his position on her back so that he's laying on his back with his head propped against her neck and summons his standard-issue bard guitar. He may as well try to figure out how to play while he's up here, right?

He strums his hand across the strings idly, and finds his brain just… suddenly filled with the knowledge of how to play, like it was there all along and he really _had_ known how to play his whole life. He settles into strumming out a lazy melody, something he doesn't even personally recognize, which is disconcerting. It's beautiful though, so he relaxes and lets his eyes slip shut as he plays it.

“Lance!” A voice suddenly screams into his right ear, and he startles so badly he swears he almost falls right off of Blue, despite her insistent assurances otherwise. “Lance, can you hear me?”

It's Hunk. He sounds a little frazzled, so Lance responds to the strange magic message immediately, sitting up straight and banishing his guitar. “Yeah, Hunk, I can hear you, buddy. What's up?”

There's the sound of a scuffle and some distant shouting on the other side, and then an ear-shattering roar. Blue perks up immediately at the sound, her webbed ears swiveling as far back towards Lance as possible and her head bobbing up. Hunk sighs, “Uh, well, Keith woke one of the dragons, but it's pissed. It's not listening to him and it's just rampaging through the Galra camp and we don't know what to do and could you come help thanks?” Hunk ends his ramble on an upturned note, the question managing to be hopeful and yet still pleading at the same time.

Lance frowns, but Blue just lets out a derisive snort and zeroes in on the mountains again, spiraling closer to land in her descent. Lance shrugs. “Yeah, okay. Blue's headed in. I can come help Keithy boy control his dragon, I guess, _if he's too chicken._ ”

The last thing he hears before the connection cuts out is a very indignant, “Hey!” that definitely did not come from Hunk.

Blue lands much higher up the mountain this time, now that most of the Galra base has been cleared in a fiery rampage. She sweeps down immediately upon landing to let Lance dismount before taking to the skies once more, apparently certain that's the place for her in this particular scuffle. Lance doesn't argue.

He races around the corner of the mountain path, finding Hunk just ahead, cowering behind a metal barricade with his staff drawn. He gives him a quizzical look and Hunk shakes his head and responds, “Keith is crazy, man. He's _arguing_ with it. I don't know what he thinks he's doing but I'm not about to get in his way.”

Lance peers around the corner of the metal blockade to find Keith standing there on the edge of the cliff, arms spread wide in outrage at the dragon hovering in front of him. “I am your _paladin!_ ” He insists, pointing to himself frantically. “Look! It's me, Keith! Your paladin!” Lance snorts. As if that's gonna work. Right on cue, the dragon belts out a stream of incredibly deadly flames that buffet the cliffside. Lance ducks behind the barricade, eyes wide, but Keith holds his ground and crosses his arms impatiently. “That's not gonna work! I'm still here! I'm still your paladin!”

The whole fire resistance thing is a little uncanny too, Lance decides. 

The dragon in front of Keith is about the same size as Blue, Lance thinks- it's pretty hard to tell with it flapping in midair like that. It's a rich, deep red with touches of orange dotting its body, and its narrowed eyes glow judgmentally like burning coals. It also has horns which, Lance distantly notes, almost match Keith's in shape. Their color is a deep, almost-black red.

Keith pouts at the dragon and horrifyingly, fails to notice when a Galra soldier emerges from behind him with a bow and edges closer. Lance opens his mouth to call out, and the dragon releases an angry puff of smoke as it zeroes in on the tiefling before it, but Keith must detect the Galra some other way because suddenly he's spinning around and then there's a knife in the guy's neck. Lance misses everything in between. He doesn't spare a beat before spinning back around to the dragon impatiently with his arms spread wide, but it just narrows its eyes at him.

To Lance's horror, that is the exact moment that yet another Galra soldier chooses to leap out from the sidelines and rush at Keith with a sword. Keith sees him this time, but he's caught empty-handed- his dagger is buried in the previous Galra’s jugular and he just doesn't have the time to summon his bayard. He fumbles for a weapon and Lance calls out to him in horror but there's nothing either of them can do.

Suddenly, Lance's field of vision is a bright, glaring orange, with the gentle roar of immense heat radiating from in front of him. Lance stumbles back a few steps. The fire simmers down, and while the Galra is, of course, burnt to a crisp, Keith stands untouched, staring at the dragon in awe. He gasps. “I can hear you,” he muses, taking a few stumbling, helpless steps towards it. It finally lands on the side of the cliff with a loud thud and a crooning noise from the back of its throat. Keith rushes forward to get a closer look at it, and Lance takes the opportunity to emerge from behind the barricade. Immediately, suspicious orange eyes zero in on him and he takes a few steps back, his hands held up in surrender. Keith spares him a brief glance before looking back at the giant creature. “It's okay. They're with me.”

Lance scuffs his toe against the ground and shoots a look up at where Blue is still circling the peak. He can feel her nervousness and impatience grating at him, so he takes a few hesitant steps closer. Hunk follows behind him. “I _hate_ to interrupt this heartwarming meeting,” he apologizes, “but Blue's getting kinda antsy up there and we probably need to be heading to the next spot. Do you think you can fly that thing?” He asks Keith, waving his hand in the general direction of the dragon. It snorts in what Lance thinks must be indignation and a plume of smoke curls up from its nostrils.

“Yes, _Lance_ , I think I can fly her. It should be no problem,” Keith scoffs, and the dragon gracefully lowers to the ground to allow Keith onto her back. “And her _name_ is _Red_.” There's a horrified groan from Hunk at this declaration. Lance turns to his buddy as he calls Blue down to them in his mind.

Hunk looks a little disgruntled, but that's honestly not out of character for him considering they were just attacked by the Galra, then a dragon, and then found out said dragon's name was _Red_. So. Lance asks, “Do you wanna ride with me on Blue or Keith on Red? Remember who has more _experience_ here,” he asserts, waggling his eyebrows, and from atop Red, Keith sticks his tongue out at him. The image of Keith with his tongue stuck out between those two just-sharper-than-normal canines has Lance distracted for a moment longer than usual before he manages to shake it off. He just… hasn't ever seen Keith's weird fang teeth so clearly before is all, of course. That's it.

Hunk frowns and sighs, crossing his arms. “Well, I'd rather not ride on _any_ dragons, to be honest.” Red makes a disgruntled noise. “ _But_ I think I'd rather ride with Lance on Blue. Just because I've done that before. No offense, Keith.”

Keith grunts in acknowledgement and gives a short nod of his head as Blue lands. She's absolutely ecstatic about something. Lance dismisses it for the time being. “None taken, Hunk,” Keith shrugs, running a careful hand down Red’s scales as Blue lets Lance and Hunk onto her back. “I'm just glad we finally know who has the better dragon, now that Red is here.” Another plume of smoke curls up from Red’s nostrils as she huffs, and Lance's mouth drops open. Blue's excitement quickly melts away to disbelief.

“Take it back,” Lance warns, tightening his grip on one of Blue's ridges despite what she'd told him. “Blue is _perfect_. You and Red could never have what we have,” he promises, sending a wave of assurance to his girl.

Keith shrugs at him, a small smirk starting to play at the corners of his mouth. “I dunno. Guess we'll just have to see who can outfly the other, then,” he challenges. There's a definite smirk on his face now. He purses his lips innocently and raises an eyebrow before tacking on, “Starting, oh, I dunno, right about now?” And then he and Red are off at the speed of light, zipping into the air in some kind of reverse nosedive.

Lance is left scowling after them and frantically urging Blue into the air. “Hey!” He calls, “That's cheating!” Keith just flips him the finger from way up in the sky and Lance physically feels his frown deepen. It's on now. “How fast can you go, Blue?” He asks her quietly, patting her neck. He can feel her smugness radiating from the inside out.

_“Watch and see,”_ she promises, and tucks her wings in to shoot off after them like a bullet. He hears Hunk’s panicked shout behind him, but they've almost caught up to Keith and Red, so he'll have to apologize to his best friend later. Right now, kicking Keith's ass takes clear priority.

Blue positively soars, her wings tucking in neatly and aerodynamically with every beat. Lance feels the wind absolutely ruining his hair but frankly, he doesn't care at the moment. He lets out an adrenaline-ridden whoop as Blue tucks her wings in close and follows Red into a nosedive right on her tail. The caves of Balmera are directly below them and they are coming in hot. At the last minute, Red pulls up and spreads her wings to land, so Blue follows suit, the two landing neck-and-neck. By the time Blue's lowered to the ground, Keith has already leapt off of Red and is stalking over to Blue with a smug look. Lance slides down Blue's side, followed closely behind by Hunk, who seems to be swaying dizzily. “I think I'm gonna hurl,” he mutters, and stumbles off.

Lance marches out to meet Keith halfway, pointing an accusatory finger right in his face. “You cheated! We tied because you cheated!”

Keith's smirk falls from his face and he levels Lance with a deadpan glare, crossing his arms. “You're joking,” he deadpans. Lance says nothing. “I established the rules fair and square. If you weren't fast enough, that's your own fault. I clearly won,” Keith asserts, his tail lashing behind him in annoyance. His eyes are narrowed to angry, challenging slits and Lance huffs in dismissal of his claim.

“Pfft. I don't think so,” Lance brushes him off, turning to where Hunk is re-emerging from the rock outcropping nearby. “Hunk, buddy, back me up. Keith and I totally tied in that race, right? You saw.” He places his hands on his hips in question and raises an eyebrow at Hunk.

Poor Hunk is still several shades paler than he should be, and appears to be swaying slightly as he walks. He shakes his head at Keith and Lance in disbelief, eyes wide. “Are you _kidding?_ I had my eyes shut the whole time, guys. That was the most terrifying thing I've ever had to do. I don't know which one of you _won_ ,” he asserts, like they'd have to be crazy to think he would in the first place. Lance lets out a long-suffering sigh and looks back to Keith, who smirks at him in triumph, his tail swishing behind him happily.

Lance rolls his eyes. “Whatever. I'm really sorry for being such a jerk and flying so fast, Hunk. It wasn't cool of me. Now, don't you guys have a dragon to find or whatever?” He bites out, glaring at Keith with as much of his annoyance with the guy shining through as he can muster. It doesn't do anything to dampen Keith's spirit, and if anything, the corners of his lips seem to curl up a little more in amusement at Lance's intense scowl.

Keith turns on his heels, his ponytail swinging in the space behind him, and stalks off toward the opening of the cave mouth. “We actually do. Thank you for reminding us, Lance. What a kind thing to do,” his voice floats up from over his shoulder dripping with a sweetness too pristine to be real, and Lance crosses his arms and silently mocks Keith behind his back in a very mature fashion, rolling his eyes toward the sky in annoyance and flapping his mouth open and shut in a pantomime of Keith's words.

Hunk glances back and forth between the two of them with no small amount of growing concern on his face before sighing heavily, shaking his head, and traipsing after Keith.

After they disappear into the cave and out of his line of sight, Lance turns back to Blue to complain about how insufferable Keith is only to find her happily nuzzling up against Red in what is _for sure_ a feline manner. Are dragons just massive lizard cats? He's distracting himself; fuck. There's no way his beautiful baby Blue can be consorting with _Keith's_ dragon, of all the beautiful fantasy creatures in this beautiful fantasy world?! He won't have it. He marches up to the two dragons, places his hands on his hips assertively, and demands, “Just what do you think you're doing?!”

Blue pauses her nuzzling but does not disentangle herself from Red, both of their eyes instead shifting to Lance in an almost comical manner. _“My Red is awake again. I felt her absence like a hole in my heart while I slumbered, but we are together now.”_ She sounds overjoyed. Red must have heard some semblance of what she said, at least, because she makes a low, crooning noise in the back of her throat and presses closer to Blue.

Lance regards them curiously. He raises on quizzical eyebrow. “Okay,” he agrees, “but you felt the absence of _all_ the dragons, right?” He asks, eyes darting between the two of them. 

Blue's laughter rolls into his brain in waves this time, and Lance thinks she's chuckling at him. _“Of course, little paladin. I can feel the absence of all the dragons.”_ Lance feels a relieved breath escape him, maybe he doesn't have to worry about this after all. Blue continues, though, _“But I felt Red’s most severely. I love her, after all. Missing Red was like missing a part of my own body.”_ Red makes a gentle chirping noise in response to this and physically wraps herself around Blue's body protectively. Lance is beginning to think he's witnessing something he perhaps should not be, this strange and too-intimate reunion.

He wrinkles his nose up. “Like. You love her as in you want to marry her, or love her like a friend, or family, or…?” He trails off.

For the first time, he's met only by Blue's confusion for a long few moments. Then she seems to realize what he means, because she clarifies, _“Oh. I see. No, young one, dragons do not have multiple concepts of love as you humans do. I love Red as a lover and a friend and like she's my family all at once, because my love for her is all-encompassing. It is why I felt so empty without her. Red is my everything.”_ Blue turns her eyes away from Lance for the first time during their conversation, swiveling her head to meet Red’s gaze with the softest look Lance has ever seen. Red makes an absolutely heartbreaking squawk and just crashes back against Blue, and Lance melts. 

He decides then that he _can't_ keep them apart, no matter how much he and Keith may despise each other. They _love_ each other. They're this game's version of soulmates, probably, judging by the way they're clinging to one another. Prying them apart would be heartless, and he won't do it to Blue. He loves her too much to put her through that a second time.

So, Lance simply settles against a nearby tree stump with his legs propped out in front of him and goes about fiddling with his guitar again. He opts to allow the dragons to keep snuggling and instead sets out to play something good. Cast a spell, maybe. He strums out an upbeat melody with an interesting tempo and steels himself to try and cast an illusion. He closes his eyes as he plays and focuses on really feeling the beat and channeling that energy into his magic and when he opens his eyes… 

There is, sure enough, a puddle in front of him now. It looks like a real puddle, but Lance knows better because that puddle was not there five seconds ago. He brought that puddle into existence. When he leans forward and tries to touch it, his hand phases through it, which is disorienting enough, but oh well.

Holy shit, he made a puddle. A magic, nonexistent puddle.

He smiles to himself and continues strumming the guitar lazily with no real intention as he crosses one leg over the other. Take _that,_ Keith. Lance can do magic now.

Actually, he sure as hell _hopes_ Keith can't do magic. Shit. Then he'd be one-upped again. Shit. Damn it. There goes that plan. Maybe he should work on his archery as well while he's out here, just to be safe? Good plan, he decides, and wanders over to an open clearing so he can shoot. He summons his bayard and feels it materialize in his hand, simply phasing into existence. He tests its weight briefly before holding it up to eye level and drawing the string-that's-not-a-string back. Once he has it drawn fully to his ear, an arrow of the same shimmering, transcendent material of the string manifests nocked into place on the bow. Lance spares only a moment's’ worth of shock for _that_ little trick, but then he lines up the arrow and fires.

It's an instant bullseye- by his own standards, at least. There are no actual targets in the woods. But his arrow has landed smack dab in the middle of the tree he was shooting at, and he's gobsmacked. He gapes at it for a second before immediately nocking another arrow and shooting. It soars and hits its mark directly below the first arrow, and Lance squints. He draws and shoots once again, and once again, it's a perfect shot. His shock begins to give way to pride. Maybe he's just a natural shot.

The arrows slowly fade from the tree the same way they'd appeared in the first place, leaving deep notches in the bark and wood. Lance walks up and places a hand on the tree trunk reverently. _He_ did that. Those are his arrow marks.

He's interrupted from his musings by a sudden calamity originating behind him, a rumble of the Earth that shakes the ground below his feet. As he turns around, an explosion of little pulverized rock and stone bits flies from somewhere in the center of the cave system and a streak of gold zooms out. Lance flings his arms up to shield himself, his bow dematerializing in the process. A loud, low roar echoes through the air and both Red and Blue swivel their heads in unison to peer at the golden blur. It's nearing them, getting closer and closer, and suddenly it lands on the terrain in front of Lance with a jarring, Earth-rumbling thud.

The gold blur is actually a gold dragon, rather predictably, and a verifiable _tank_ of one at that. It's massive- big and bulky and square, and it has a head that somehow makes Lance think of a bulldozer. It's _much_ larger than either Red or Blue.

Hunk’s head appears from behind the crest of spikes crowning the dragon's head. He grins and waves, his ears twitching excitedly. “Hi, Lance! This is Yellow! He's my dragon!” Lance blinks, unable to muster up any sort of emotion in himself besides resignation. This is just his life now, he supposes. Keith slides down the dragon's massive back and hops to the ground gracefully, skirting around Lance to where Blue and Red lie completely intertwined. He turns to Lance in accusation.

“Lance. What did you do to our dragons?” He demands, his clawed hands on his hips. His tail thrashes through the air behind him demandingly.

Lance just shrugs and walks over to lean against Blue, who makes a purring sound at him but refuses to break away from Red. Honestly? They're kinda like overemotional teenagers in his opinion. Overemotional, artificially intelligent teenagers. “Hey! Our dragons _love_ each other. I didn't do _anything_. Honest. Cross my heart and hope to die. You can talk to Red about it,” he promises.

“Awww,” Hunk coos, and Lance turns briefly to find his buddy draped over the spikes at the crest of his dragon's head, propped up on his elbows and making a lovesick face. “That's _adorable_. I'm so happy for them.”

Keith, on the other hand, glares at Lance like he's just murdered his entire family. “I don't believe you. You did _something_ , I'm sure of it. They didn't just fall in love like _that_. Fuck, are dragons even capable of love?”

Lance rolls his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Okay,” he admits willingly, “They didn't just fall in love like _that_.” Keith's yellow eyes go wide in surprise at the easy victory. Lance continues, “ _But_ it's not because I did something. They've _been_ in love, and it would be really cruel of us to tear them apart now because of some silly feud between the two of us. Talk over it with Red, I guess. I'm taking Blue back to Arus.”

With that, Lance stalks off to Blue, who wrenches her head up and pouts at him with wide, round pupils. Lance sighs. “Sorry, girl,” he tells her, swinging onto her back, “Keith needs some alone time with Red. We're giving them some space, okay?” She makes a disgruntled sound and pushes her clear discontent at him before rising up off of the ground huffily and beelining for Arus.

Lance zones out for most of the flight. Blue seems sort of miffed at him and is giving him the silent treatment, so he doesn't even attempt conversation with her. He wonders how everyone else is getting along with their dragons. Hopefully better than he is right now. From what little he's seen of them, Red seems temperamental and moody and Yellow seems a little like a big teddy bear. Which is fine, because their personalities align with those of their paladins, he guesses. Heh, Keith's probably getting chewed the fuck out by Red right now for splitting up her and Blue. Stupid Keith.

Blue descends for a landing right outside of Arus and tucks her wings in elegantly as she lands. As soon as she's touched down, she shakes herself off much like a wet dog would, sending Lance flying from where he's perched nonchalantly on her back. She then promptly transforms back into a snow leopard and stalks off into the city grumpily. “Blue!” Lance calls after her, still sitting in the dirt on his ass, dumbfounded. “It's not my fault! I didn't do anything, I promise!”

He stands quickly and brushes himself off, chasing after her into the city. The only place he can think that she would have gone to is the Castle of Lions, so that's of course where he heads. He throws the door open upon arrival and finds Matt sprawled out on the floor not even five feet in front of him, scrabbling and shuffling on the ground in a tangle of too many limbs. He freezes his struggling and glances up at Lance, offering him a sheepish grin and a shrug. “I'm trying to figure out how to stand up,” he admits shyly. Lance opens his mouth in question- Matt still can't even fucking _stand up?_ How fucked up are the motor inputs for centaurs compared to the humanoid ones? He closes his mouth quickly, though, and decides against asking any questions; any answers Matt has to give him will only confuse him more anyways, he's sure.

Instead, he glances around the room quickly and purses his lips in frustration. No Blue here. “Did you by any chance see a snow leopard come by here?”

Matt stares up at him and blinks in thought, then shrugs carelessly from where he's still spread eagle on the floor. “I most _certainly_ did not. Sorry. You can ask Allura, though- she's in the kitchen reading some books.”

Lance takes Matt's advice and steps cautiously around him to head into the kitchen. Just as Matt said, Allura sits hunched over at the table poring over a large tome. Her hair is tangled and unbrushed like she hasn't paid any attention to it since the morning they learned they were trapped here and there are deep, purpling dark circles under her eyes. Lance clears his throat to announce his arrival and she startles, hastily slamming the book shut and snapping to attention, her eyes wide and wild. It hurts Lance's heart a little to see her like this. Something must be seriously wrong for her to be falling apart like this. “Hello, Lance,” she greets him, making a belated attempt to smooth her shirt and hair down into something socially acceptable. “Did you need something?” She asks curtly. Her eyes dart back down to where her book lies abandoned on the table.

Lance frowns sympathetically and glances for a moment to the window. Wherever Blue has gone, it can't be _that_ far. He knows she's just sulking and being difficult and will come back around soon. Allura’s well-being comes before locating a renegade pouting AI, he figures. Lance steps around the table next to Allura and pulls out a chair, sweeping into the seat. “Did _you_ need something, Allura? I know you're not feeling… great, right now, and that's okay. And if you don't wanna talk about it, that's okay, too. But if you do, I'm right here. You can tell me.” He reaches his hand across to clasp it on top of hers consolingly and her eyes widen in shock just a fraction before she suddenly and overwhelmingly bursts into tears, and Lance snatches his hand back like he's been burned.

Allura waves him off with the hand that isn't trying desperately to cover her face, sniffling, “No, no, you're okay, I'm sorry. I just-” She glances, teary-eyed, to the open doorway of the kitchen and then back to Lance. “Can we go somewhere more private to discuss this?”

Lance nods and quickly stands to help Allura out of her chair. She bats him away and stands on her own, making it clear that even though she may be an emotional mess right now, she's still perfectly fine on her own. “Your room or mine?” Lance asks as he heads towards the hallway, then freezes for a split second as his own words sink in. _This_ sure as hell isn't the context that Lance from a year ago expected to be saying that sentence to Allura with, but whatever. It's for the best. 

“Mine,” she answers immediately, then pauses. “Sorry… it's just, I'd feel a lot more comfortable there.” She takes the lead and strides down the first floor hallway until she comes to the last door, opening it with no hesitation. She steps through the door frame and the sight Lance is greeted with blows his mind a little.

He _knows_ he's making an effort to comfort Allura and he's not supposed to be getting distracted, but her room is, like, clearly the best. It's got a plush pink canopy bed and an actual couch, the fancy chaise lounge kind that rich people have. It's also got a massive vanity- which, no offense, Allura clearly doesn't seem to have been using lately. These are the perks of being the daughter of the game designer, Lance figures.

Lance stops scrutinizing the details of Allura’s room and returns his attention to the girl in question, who has in the meantime flounced onto the mattress of the bed. She's stopped crying for the most part and now tear tracks simply run sadly down the sides of her cheeks, glistening over her pink face markings. She considers Lance mournfully. He gazes back at her mostly in confusion. He's pretty sure he's squinting slightly; Allura hasn't been super generous with dropping hints for him so far. It's pretty difficult to try and piece together a profile of what could be bothering her so much in the first place.

Allura sighs deeply and turns her eyes to the floor, tears once again pooling in the corners of her eyes. “Coran told me that my father died.” Lance feels his jaw drop open. Alfor de Altea died in the- what, three days they've been here? No way. He doesn't believe it. “He says they think it was a heart attack. And I,” she chokes up again and her eyes well over with tears, “I couldn't even be there for him because I'm stuck here. He's gone, Lance, I'll never see him again. I wasn't even there.” She looks up at Lance and the pain in her eyes is so _real_ , so horrible to see, that Lance's heart constricts in sympathy.

He opens his arms immediately to offer her a hug, because that's just what he _does_ when someone needs to be comforted, and she falls forward into his arms, shaking with sobs. He wraps his arms around her and moves his hand along her back in a weak attempt to calm her. “Hey, shh, it's okay,” he tells her. “I know this sucks. I know. I'm so sorry, Allura, I'm so sorry that all this had to happen to us. It's really the worst, and I know you're dealing with _so_ much right now. But we're here, okay? We're all here because we care about you, and you don't have to deal with all this alone.” He pulls away from Allura for a second to look her in her teary eyes, still clutching to her shoulders. “Don't pull yourself away from us, okay? We've all been missing you and worrying about you and we can help you get through this.” Allura gives a sniffly nod and buries herself back in his shoulder, and he lets her be for the time being. He knows she probably just needs to let her feelings out, anyways. He keeps rubbing her back soothingly as she cries.

After a few minutes, she finally sits back up and wipes her eyes, seeming a little calmer. She's still sort of distressed, but that's okay, Lance thinks, given the situation. Allura frowns at him. “I just… don't know what this means for us. I mean… my father coded the game, and I'm not sure who else would know how to help us. I'm not sure who else would even know to look for us to be missing from real life, really.” Her eyes glaze over a little as her gaze drops to the floor. The implications of her words hit Lance full-force. No one at Garrison might even _realize_ they're trapped, with Alfor gone. None of the employees have links into their lives. No one from their lives knows they're _playing_ the game. There's no common thread linking their being in comas to Garrison. _Shit._

Lance thinks frantically, struggling for some missing link. There's gotta be someone. Someone would have to realize. “What about Coran?” He asks Allura, eyes wide and desperate.

Allura shakes her head mournfully. “No. Coran lives over in Liverpool, a whole continent away. He's an old family friend, and father wanted a second opinion on the game, so he's part of our game as well, from the outside. But he has no links at Garrison other than my father. He can't help us.” The corner of her mouth twitches into a frown and Lance struggles for some kind of answer. There has to be someone. Someone who would realize.

“So… we're really stuck?” He asks, dismayed. “What now?”

Allura shrugs, a picture of hopelessness and uncertainty in that moment. “I don't know, Lance. I guess we just go on with the original plan and keep working towards completing the prophecy. There's nothing else we _can_ do,” she murmurs forlornly.

Lance considers this. He supposes they really don't have any better options at this point. He sighs and stands up, pushing himself up and off of the comfy mattress. “Well. Okay, then, that's the plan. I should get back to looking for Blue. But you're okay, right? And you're gonna tell the others now?”

“Yeah,” Allura promises, even if it is a little hesitantly. “I'll let everyone know. And I feel a little better after talking to you. Thank you, Lance.” She shoots him a half-hearted smile and he gives her a smile in return as well as a two-fingered salute.

“No problem, Allura,” he assures her on his way out the door. After he exits the room and shuts the door behind him, he pauses in the hallway for a second or two to simply let everything sink in. Holy shit. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. They're really trapped here. For real this time. And nobody knows what's happened to him. Oh _god_ , his family's gonna think he's in a coma. Like, indefinitely. Which _realistically,_ he could be. He could be in a coma for the rest of his life, while his consciousness is trapped here in Altea fighting for his life. This is some kind of sick joke.

He needs to find Blue. He needs to talk to Blue. Blue knows how to calm him down, she has some kind of innate AI knowledge, and Lance is losing it right now. He needs to be talked down. He needs to find her.

Lance darts out the hallway and back past the foyer in a rush, speed-walking past Matt and ignoring the guy's insistent questions to him as he passes. He hustles through the doorway and out into the streets of Arus. He freezes, however, as soon as he realizes that he legitimately has no clue where he might be going. He doesn't know where Blue could be! Why did he think this was a good idea? His eyes dart about the street and in between the various Arusians going about their business, hoping to latch onto some kind of clue. If _he_ were a massive robot dragon, where would he go when he missed his girlfriend?

The only place Lance can possibly think of that Blue would have gone to is the stables, which Coran mentioned last night. So, he heads off for the stables, a direction springing to mind when he tries to think of where he should go. He weaves through the crowds of Arusians in the streets on his way to the outskirts of the city before eventually coming to a small, well-worn wooden building. The roof slants and there's a large sliding door to get in, which Lance hefts to the side now, squinting as his eyes adjust to the relative darkness inside the building.

There's no sign of Blue, but the stable isn't completely empty. Because of course it isn't. Smack-dab in the middle of the room on the floor of straw sits Keith, cross-legged, accompanied by a sleek cheetah curled up next to him that Lance can only assume is Red. Keith blinks at him owlishly, bringing a hand up to shield his eyes from the light, and frowns. “Oh. It's just you,” he mumbles when he gets a good look at Lance. He turns back to Red and she rests her head back on his knee lazily.

Lance takes a few unconscious steps further into the stable, arms crossed across his chest and eyes flitting about looking for Blue. He huffs at the insult- _just you._ Rude. He then looks back to Keith, though, mouth open to ask him if he's seen Blue anywhere, and instead gasps. Keith turns to him eyebrows furrowed in question and Lance can only blink. “ _Mullet!_ ”He shouts, pointing at Keith. Keith squints and raises a hand to his notably down hair self-consciously.

“Mullet? It's not a mullet,” he scoffs, playing with the ends of his hair. Lance shakes his head, trying to clear his head and gather his thoughts.

He waves a hand at Keith, frowning. Red is giving him a very judgmental look right now and he doesn't approve of it. “No,” he amends, “that's _not_ what I meant. I just meant, your hair is down.”

Keith raises one questioning eyebrow achingly slowly. “And?” He asks. His tail twitches irritably behind him. Red's jaws stretch in a yawn that feels more like an insult to Lance's character than a normal bodily function.

Lance feels himself twitch a little bit as the corners of his mouth pull down into a frown. “Holy quiznak, why is this so hard. What I _mean_ is, I _know_ you! I've seen you before- in real life!” Lance huffs triumphantly and places his hands on his hips. All his previous worries have flown his mind in the wake of bickering with Keith.

Keith jolts in surprise, hand stilling in its path along Red’s back. He blinks once slowly, in confusion. “When?” He finally inquires, eyes looking very far-off. Then again, his eyes kind of _always_ look far-off, thanks to the whole completely-yellow issue.

“When I went to Garrison to design my character. You walked by me in the waiting room, but I didn't realize it was you before now because you had your hair down then and it's been up this whole time. And… y'know, obviously the whole red skin, yellow eyes, big pointy horns and tail thing.” Lance stifles a laugh as he waves a hand at all of Keith's body. Keith glares at him. Lance is suddenly reminded of his grievance with Keith in the first place and he jabs an accusatory finger at him. “And you! Ran _right_ into me while you were leaving and then didn't even apologize! Asshole,” Lance pouts, crossing his arms and huffing.

Keith's mouth drops open in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?! Lance, I was still drugged up from the surgery when I left! I probably didn't even register there was another _human being_ in the waiting room, much less that I'd run _into_ you!” He argues, tail swishing temperamentally behind him. Lance blinks. He… he hadn't even _thought_ of that. Honestly, now that he thinks about it, the thought that Keith was drugged up and delirious because he was leaving surgery makes a lot of sense. Of course he would be. Of course the whole shoulder-check mishap wasn't actually an insult to Lance as a person.

“Oh,” Lance mumbles in a very small voice. Keith huffs out a laugh and shakes his head, hair swishing around his face. Lance is struck by the thought that he's pretty sure this is the first time he's seen Keith smile in the whole four days he's known him now, and isn't _that_ wild? He decides immediately that he likes Keith's smile. It's understated for a smile, that's for sure, but he wants to see it more. He wants to make Keith smile more.

Not in like, a romantic way, though, because that would be insane. Keith's still super annoying and the bane of his existence. Just… like, a healthy rivalry sort of thing. It's normal for rivals to want to make each other smile, right?

Lance sighs and shakes himself out of his confusing thoughts. “Anyways,” he segues, glancing back to the door. “You haven't by any chance seen Blue come by here, right? I lost her and I can't reach her using my thoughts right now. She's giving me the silent treatment.”

Keith raises an eyebrow and Red chuffs in amusement. He scratches idly at her head and she arches into the touch. “No, I can't say I have. Why? How, exactly, do you keep losing her?” He asks, and Red makes a trilling sound that Lance thinks is her laughing at him. Of course, he doesn't have a mental link with _Red_ , so he can't be sure. But he _feels_ like that's what it is.

Lance rolls his eyes and exhales harshly. “Ha-ha, very funny. She's a free spirit, Keith. She goes where she wants to go. Besides,” he tacks on, narrowing his eyes at Keith, “this one is _your_ fault anyways. Blue got miffed at me after _you_ broke her and Red up and I had to drag her away from her girl here.” He gestures to Red with one hand and she stares at him evenly, her amber eyes narrowing ever so slightly. “So,” he finishes lamely, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. He's run out of steam on that particular rant.

Keith shakes his head. “Well, I'm sorry. I haven't seen her, but I'll keep an eye out for her and let you know if I do spot her. Red says she'll pass it along if she hears anything from her, too. And,” Keith ducks his head for a moment, face flushing an even deeper red than it already is. “If you find her, let her know I apologize for… what I said earlier. I don't have a problem with her and Red. It was just a little sudden, that's all.” His now-down hair hangs low and completely obscures Lance's view of his face. Lance wishes he would put it back again; he really likes it better when he can see Keith's face.

Lance gives him a small smile regardless and shrugs. “Thanks, Keith. I'll be sure to pass on the message. Either way, I should get back to looking for her now.” He jabs a thumb over his shoulder awkwardly as Keith glances back up at him. He backs up a few staggered steps, then trips over a poorly placed pile of straw on the ground and stumbles backwards onto his ass. He catches himself on his hands uncomfortably and with a small jolt of pain through his arms, and blinks in surprise. He looks over at Keith after a moment's pause, and the boy appears to be trying very hard to stifle a laugh. When Lance stands up and a veritable pound of straw flutters down and off of the seat of his pants, Keith loses it and bursts out into laughter. Lance does his best to look affronted, but he finds that he doesn't mind being laughed at all that much if it means he gets to see that smile again.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” Keith waves him off, eyes squinted halfway shut in laughter, “It's just- oh my god, your face, you looked so confused.” Lance levels him with a stare that makes it very evident he is not confused anymore. Keith shakes his head, eyes shut now and still giggling a little. “It's fine, just… turn around when you leave this time, quiznak, you idiot,” he swears good-naturedly.

Lance devolves into a smile. He can't keep glaring at Keith when the guy looks _that_ happy for the first time since they got here. “Sure thing, mullet,” he assures him, shooting his trademark two finger guns at Keith. The last thing he sees before he turns to leave is the laughter melting away off of Keith's face and giving way to an absolutely scandalized expression.

Lance strolls out of the stable, face-first this time, ignoring Keith's insulted shout behind him of, “Hey! Get back here, Lance! Don't you walk away- I thought we were past that ‘mullet’ crap!” He hears scuffling behind him and a surprised chirrup from Red, but he just keeps on trekking out the door and lets the stable door swing shut behind him.

He has a dragon to track down, and he thinks he might have an idea of where she could be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens! I promised Allura had a reason to be upset- I feel like she's the type to bury away all her feelings because she feels like she has to be responsible. Also, Lance finally realized that he's seen Keith before! I didn't stretch that out TOO long- it's important. :) 
> 
> I hope you guys don't mind that I wrote Red and Blue in romantic-styles, I just needed a way for Lance and Keith to start getting along even the tiniest bit and honestly? I love Red and Blue together. I feel like they deserve each other, that's super cute.
> 
> If you liked this chapter, drop a kudos or leave me a comment telling me what you think! I'm always happy to talk to you guys.


	7. Gomeisa

Lance's first order of business in finding his missing dragon: finding Coran. He's well aware it seems like a strange priority, but Coran knows the terrain around Arus like the back of his hand, apparently, and Lance needs some assistance in that department. He eventually finds the man in a chamber off to the side of the foyer, reclining on a plush chair with a book held up to his face. He springs to his feet as soon as he notices Lance.

“Ah! Lance, my boy! Have you come to see the Altean healing beds?” He inquires, gesturing to the row of beds that lines the room not dissimilar to an infirmary. Lance has to admit his curiosity is piqued, but it's not exactly the reason he's here right now.

He shakes his head a little guiltily, stepping forward further into the room. “Nope, sorry, Coran. Not this time. I actually came to ask if you had any info on bodies of water near Arus? Like an oasis of some sort, or a river. Anything.” He nods enthusiastically.

Coran considers the question carefully, twirling his mustache between two fingers. He purses his lips in thought before finally nodding once, a short bob of his head. “Well, I suppose there is Galashaw Spring to the south of here. However, that's cutting it awful close to Galra territory- if you're heading to Galashaw, I'd take great caution before I proceed if I were you!” Coran warns, waggling his finger at Lance sternly. Lance nods seriously at this advice.

“Of course, Coran. I'll be careful. Thank you!” He acknowledges Coran before backtracking his way out of the room and back into the bustling streets of Arus with a quick wave. Lance takes a quick glance to his map to reference the location of Galashaw Springs- it looks like it's just outside the city's southern border. It shouldn't be that much of a trek to reach.

Lance darts through the scattered crowds of Arusians on his way out. Arus may be a relatively small city, but it's surprisingly active during the day and the small stature of the Arusians makes it incredibly easy to overlook one and maybe, say, trip over it. Not that Lance has done that by any means, just that he's going out of his way _not_ to. He finally reaches the southern edge of the city and laments the very reason he's here as he stares down the distant glimmer of the oasis in the hot sun. It's not all that far to be honest, maybe only half a mile, but god does Lance wish he had a dragon right now. Blue's kinda like fast travel in her own way- she cuts out the middleman exercise of walking entirely. Only, you know, _not_ fast travel, because he still has to sit on her back and entertain himself the whole ride there.

Anyways. All that's beside the point.

Lance begins the long and arduous task of journeying all the way across the mid-length stretch of desert in front of him. It takes all of, maybe, 30 minutes. Upon arriving at Galashaw Springs, the first thing that Lance notices is the blatant and obvious dragon resting just beneath the waters.

Not that the springs aren't gorgeous or memorable in their own right, because they absolutely are. They are a sight to behold. It's just a little hard to focus in on them when your petulant dragon is curled up napping in the crystal clear water not even ten feet in front of you. She lies smack-dab in the middle of the pool of water, which is deep enough for her to be completely submerged, but only barely. Lance stares for a few moments, makes a futile attempt to call out to her again in his head, and when she remains wrapped in on herself with a steady stream of bubbles rising from her nose underwater, Lance sighs in resignation. It's go time.

He peels off his shirt, tossing it to the ground- and now that he thinks about it, did he ever get his jacket back after it was yanked off of him when he went to wake Blue the first time? He thinks not. He's not even sure who pulled it off him, so he'll have to ask around to see who has it if he wants it back, he supposes. With his shirt off, he lifts up one leg and rolls up his pant leg. He cuffs them at right around his knee because he figures that's as high as they'll go without being ridiculous. He does the same to the other leg, then kicks off his shoes and tentatively steps into the water.

The feeling of the gentle waves lapping against his skin is like an immediate breath of fresh air in the midst of the dry, suffocating desert heat outside of Arus. He heaves out a breath of relief and wades further into the cool water. Before long, he's submerged up to his waist (may his pants rest in peace) and he stands next to Blue's head. He hesitates before placing a calming hand on her forehead and sending her as much reassurance as he can muster up. Her eyes snap open and her head jolts up and out of the water, creating enough of a wave to knock Lance off his balance a little. She looks around hastily before her eyes come to settle on him. A moment passes where all is well, but then she seems to remember herself and her eyes narrow slightly.

Lance puts his hands on his hips skeptically. “Don't you look at me like that, Blue! I know you're upset. But don't you think you could have told me where you were going? I would have let you be! I understand the need for alone time, and you are your own person! Dragon! Large cat! Whatever you are!” He waves at her dismissively, and she huffs. “No, you don't get to be emotional with me! I needed your help and you weren't around, Blue. I didn't even know where to find you. Don't cut me off like that again, okay?” Lance can feel Blue probing his mind curiously before she presumably finds what upset him in the first place- Alfor's death, the knowledge that they truly _are_ trapped here- and Lance is hit by a wave of sympathy and apologies so strong it nearly knocks him off his feet.

Blue immediately and without question nuzzles her snout against him almost aggressively. _“I am sorry. Sorry, I am so sorry. I didn't think. I am new to this, too. I will try to be better, I promise,”_ she swears to him, cuddling up into his side. He belatedly reaches out and wraps his arms around her in return. They don't even come close to covering the length of her muzzle, but he can feel she appreciates it anyways.

He blinks up at her. “Hey. It's okay, Blue. I understand. Don't beat yourself up about it. We just need to try and communicate better,” he informs her, and she snorts her agreement. Lance pats the top of her nose consolingly. “Keith said he's sorry, by the way. For splitting you and Red up. He says he doesn't mind.”

Blue furrows the ridges over her eyes in confusion or frustration or something of the like, before her eyes widen and she realizes, _“Oh. No, Lance. Red and I were being kind of overdramatic. We missed each other, of course, but… there is no reason to spend every waking moment together. You are our responsibilities, now. And Red and I will have eternity together anyways.”_ Lance's eyes widen at the implication of her words. He hadn't even really realized Blue was being overdramatic. A little emotional, sure, but he expected that. Maybe it's just because he would have reacted the same way had he been in her footsteps.

Lance waves her off, tugging her closer. “Nah, it's fine. Don't worry about it. You love Red, right? It was only natural for you two to want to see each other when you woke up. Keith and I are just big dumbasses. Especially him,” he jokes, raising an eyebrow.

Blue blinks at him good-naturedly, her lips curling into a hint of a smile, before she strikes, nudging into Lance so fast she knocks him over into the water. He can hear her laughter bouncing around in his head as he pulls himself out of the water, shaking it from his hair. Blue lumbers to her feet, causing water to splash in every direction. _“I think you mean especially you, little blue. You forget that I can see inside your head- and I say that with the utmost love and fondness for you.”_ Lance rolls his eyes, ringing out his hair, and gives Blue a playful slap on her shoulder that admittedly probably feels like nothing to her. _“Now, come. Are you riding with me back to Arus, or are you walking?”_ Lance scrambles to clamber onto her back after that comment. He does _not_ want to walk again. 

Blue launches herself into the air with a mighty flap of her wings, and the water in the springs sloshes about below them as they take off. It's a short flight back to Arus, but Lance doesn't think he'll ever get tired of flying with Blue. He's been up in the air with her quite a few times now, and yet the feeling of the wind rushing through his hair and the slight chill in his bones is still exhilarating. It's absolutely worth it.

The sun is setting, hanging down low in the sky and Lance inherently knows there isn't going to be much time left in the day by the time they get back. Blue lands rather abruptly just outside the city and allows Lance to slide down her back and onto the ground before shifting back into a snow leopard. Lance isn't quite sure yet if that's the only thing she can change into, or if it's just what she's most comfortable as. He's not sure how to ask without sounding insensitive. Is that even an insensitive thing to ask an AI dragon in the first place? Fuck; this is too confusing.

Lance just forgets his question and strolls back to the Castle with Blue. She seems to have calmed down considerably and they walk in companionable silence. Lance is honestly shocked that none of the Arusians have run away screaming from her yet, dragon or not, a snow leopard is pretty intimidating. _“They probably believe that I am your familiar,”_ Blue's voice slices through his thoughts like a knife and startles him out of his musings. He forgot she could do that.

“My familiar?” He asks, swinging his arms as he walks. He scrunches up his nose in thought. “Like a witch’s frog or a black cat or something like that? Is that what you are?”

Blue hums thoughtfully and it echoes around his brain. The tip of her tail twitches patiently. _“Hmmm. Technically, no. I would say… it is more akin to a partnership. I am your dragon. You are my paladin. That is all there is to it, Lance,”_ she states, as if it's the easiest thing in the world. She steps ahead of him then, tail swinging contently and with a spring in her step, and leads the way back to The Castle in the rapidly encroaching dark.

Lance trails behind her and only steps in front of her when they reach The Castle, so he can open the door and let her in. She slinks on by him past the foyer and into the kitchen. Lance sighs and follows behind, walking through the empty foyer and straight into the din of the kitchen. It's fairly empty- most of their group has probably already gone to sleep. Pidge is there, of course, scribbling something down on a piece of parchment. So is Keith, only he's sharpening his perpetually-there dagger with great attention to detail. Allura converses quietly off to the side of the kitchen with Hunk, a hand placed on his upper arm consolingly. Lance takes one look around, decides immediately he doesn't really want to participate in any of… whatever _this_ is, and heads upstairs with Blue hot on his trail. He can just go to bed. It's been a long day, anyways.

He ducks into his room, lets Blue in and shuts the door behind him. Lance reaches his bed and then promptly tucks himself in. In the time that it took him to reach his room, the sun set and it's dark outside now, so he figures he's justified in going to bed now. Blue clambers back onto his lap and he levels her with a look. “No,” he tells her firmly. She gives him the biggest puppy-dog eyes Lance thinks he's ever seen. A corner of his mouth tugs down into a frown, but he stays strong. “No, Blue. I slept horribly last night and couldn't feel my legs at all when I woke up. You _can't_ sleep on my lap. I'm sorry, girl. You can sleep at the foot of my bed if that's any better?” She pouts at him but does not object, standing back up and moving to the foot of his bed like he asked. “Thank you, Blue. That feels much better,” he thanks her, and she sends him a wave of gratitude before nestling down into a ball and tucking her head away. She's probably pretty tired too, if he thinks about it. Blue did a lot of chauffeuring around and then consequently pouting today; that has to expend a fair amount of energy.

Lance follows her lead and rolls over onto his side. Blue lulls him to sleep with her now-familiar lullaby of the ocean and rain and the sky. He's beginning to suspect it may just be her resting thoughts.

He drifts off only to be woken suddenly by a spike of concern and fear from his link with Blue. He jolts straight up in a panic, only to find it is the middle of the night and Blue's glowing blue eyes are staring back at him eerily from the inky darkness of his room. She blinks at him and her worries seep through, _“I think I saw someone in the undergrowth outside the window.”_ She swivels her head to point in the direction of his window, and then promptly stands up and pads silently over to his shut door. She looks back at him expectantly. _“We should go check it out.”_

Lance allows himself a single second to hang his head and groan in disappointment. He is _tired,_ damn it. He doesn't wanna be on some wild goose chase all around The Castle because Blue is worried. But he has to at least check on it, he supposes, so he reluctantly stands and shuffles over to open the door for Blue. It opens with a muffled click and she slinks out into the hallway, disappearing down the stairs. Lance follows in her wake.

Sure enough, however, at the bottom of the stairs and in the kitchen door frame, a completely silent and still silhouette is poised- a large, hulking man, with some kind of eerie unearthly golden glow around his frame. Lance may or may not squeal a little and try in vain to hide behind a chair before he realizes, embarrassingly, that the man in question is Shiro. He turns at whatever noise Lance may have made and places a single finger to his lips in a plea for silence, and Lance nods decisively, making the universal sign for ‘zipping his lips.’ He takes up the same position as Shiro on the other side of the door frame, noticing very belatedly that at Shiro's feet sits a sleek, stoic black panther. Lance is hit by the slamming, startling realization: holy _shit_ that's his dragon. He then wonders, not as urgently, if _all_ of the dragons shapeshift into cats. That would be kind of weird, he thinks. Did Alfor have a thing for large cats?

Blue takes up position with Lance mirroring Shiro's dragon. Cat? Panther? Dragon? Whatever. The door to the castle can be heard creaking open quietly only a moment later, and Lance meets Shiro's gaze with wide eyes. There _is_ someone out there. Shiro summons his bayard immediately following the noise and so Lance follows in his footsteps. Both of them wince at the barely-there hum the weapons make as they phase into existence. Another moment goes by, and the wooden floorboards of the main entryway whine under the added weight of their unexpected guest. In a horror movie-esque twist of fate, time seems to be moving in slow motion as their intruder creeps ever closer to them. Another second ticks by, and Blue shares a look with Shiro's panther. Both of them seem to come to some sort of a mutual agreement, because they both promptly turn tail and scatter out of sight and into the shadows of the kitchen. Lance and Shiro turn back from their respectful large cats and to each other instead, exchanging a momentary look of horror. They've been abandoned in the final hour- or second, as it may be- and neither of them seem to like the implications of that much.

However, Lance doesn't even have another second to think about it and try to plead with Blue internally to return, because right then a hulking figure lurches around the corner and through the door and grasps Shiro firmly by the throat. He holds him dangling several inches off the ground with some sort of clawed, metallic prosthetic limb. It's attached to his body by a kind of glowing red energy, and speaking of his body, he's terrifying. Lance has only seen him from the back so far, but he's massive- even taller than Hunk, he thinks, and Hunk is a giant of a man. His good arm is riddled with raised scar tissue, and he's a sort of grotesque gray-mauve color that makes his whole body look like it's rotting. There are massive, thick horns rising from his head, forming a sort of ridged cat-ear triangular shape that would almost be laughable were he not currently holding Shiro three inches of the ground by his neck.

He turns to Lance ever so slowly and places the finger of his good hand to his upturned lips mockingly, miming the precise gesture Shiro had made not even five minutes ago. His fingers tighten noticeably around Shiro's neck as he does this, making his message clear enough: if Lance doesn't put the bow down, Shiro's done for. Lance takes a step back cautiously and places the bow on the kitchen table, raising his hands in surrender. The… _thing_ has ruby-red crystallization spreading across the left side of his face, seemingly sprouting from where the left eye would be and spider-webbing across his face nastily. Behind him, Shiro's eyes are bugged out in panic and he's scrabbling at the hand around his neck with both hands, feet kicking in place where they're held off the ground. Their captor lets out the first sound they've heard him make of the night- a low, wicked laugh, and motions for Lance to follow him out the door. He holds Shiro up by the neck the whole way out as Lance trails behinds him nervously. 

As soon as they make it outside, the intruder throws Shiro to the ground, and he reaches for his neck in relief, gasping in air in relief with huge, gulping breaths. Lance rushes over to his side to ensure that he's okay, but he's not there for long before their kidnapper barks out a laugh and issues a command, “Haxus! Restrain them.”

Lance jerks his head up in surprise just in time to see a slightly smaller, much wirier thing with horns that look like poorly slicked-back hair rushing toward them holding a length of rope. “Of course, Lord Sendak. Right away,” he nods, grinning a greasy, fanged smile. Lance hates him immediately. The man apparently called Haxus approaches him first, since Shiro apparently isn't deemed much of a threat when he's still gasping for air on the ground like a fish out of water. Haxus winds the rope around Lance's wrists behind his back and his ankles before tying it as a gag as well, just to add insult to injury apparently. He then moves onto Shiro and ties him up, gagging him as well. It makes sense, Lance supposes, they don't want them calling out for help and waking everyone. It's just a little demeaning, not that their horrible captors care.

Sendak stands imposingly over Lance and Shiro, false eye glinting red. His prosthetic claws flex and release imposingly, and Lance gulps in fear as he sits in front of the man. “Do you know what I am, children?” He asks. He doesn't wait for an answer. “I am a soldier of Zarkon, the undying Emperor of the North, and the true ruler of these lands. My name is Sendak. For too long I have been stationed here outside Arus, obediently waiting for the day when the paladins of old would resurface and fulfill the next line in the old _Altean_ prophecy.” He turns his head violently and spits on the ground. Then, he grins wickedly with no pretext. “Imagine my surprise when I go to the oasis for a drink earlier today only to stumble upon the fated blue paladin and its legendary dragon.” He kicks Lance in the ribs harshly with no warning, and he doubles over in pain, a strangled cry escaping his lips. He hears a muffled sound from over in Shiro's direction but he can't bring himself to sit up straight again to look at him.

“That is you, correct, blue one? You _are_ the blue paladin?” Lance makes no effort to answer. He doesn't want to betray his team nor does he want to tell this asshole anything. Sendak clicks his tongue and tuts disapprovingly. “Ah, no matter. I know it's you. Now, where is your beast, paladin? I know you are hiding it. It's here somewhere, and I will get it for Zarkon.” Lance again makes no attempt to answer. Sendak huffs angrily and strolls the few short steps over to Shiro. “Well, if you won't talk,” he begins, “maybe I should ask _this_ one.” Lance's head snaps up at that, though it pains him to do so.

“Are you a paladin as well, aasimar? Where is your beast?” Shiro stays slumped over at the questions, back still heaving in a delayed struggle to draw in breath. This seems to annoy Sendak immensely, and to Lance's horror, he reaches down with his prosthetic and grabs Shiro by the jaw, wrenching his head up and again cutting off his airflow. Lance tries to cry out, forgetting for a moment he's gagged, but all that comes out is a muffled whimper. This is just cruel at this point; they're gagged, they couldn't tell Sendak anything if they wanted to. Sendak’s eye bores into Shiro and he growls, “I know you are hiding your beasts from me, paladins. Tell me where they are and nobody has to get hurt.” Lance seriously doubts that, considering they've both already _been_ hurt, but he doesn't say anything. He can't. 

Several things happen in the next moment: one, Shiro passes out from lack of oxygen. Two, Lance finally hears from Blue after what seems like eons of radio silence. _“Help is on the way. Keep them distracted,”_ she instructs. Three, a flash of glowing green darts by in the window of The Castle to his right. Which means that Pidge, at least, is up and aware of the situation now. Blue was right.

Sendak strides imposingly back over to Lance and a jolt of fear runs through him, but just that very second, a thick plume of smoke begins curling up and out of the cluster of trees in the distance to their left. Sendak spots it just as Lance does and his mouth pulls down into a frown. “Haxus!” He shouts, and the previously silent and still man snaps to attention and salutes. “Head over there and investigate that smoke. Make sure it's nothing suspicious,” he demands, and Haxus nods stiffly, setting off in the direction of the smoke. Lance has a slight suspicion that Pidge might be behind the smoke trick, in which case, Haxus is in trouble.

That leaves Lance with only an unconscious Shiro and Sendak. Sendak scowls down at him and then makes a visible effort to pull himself back together. “Where were we?” He asks, teeth glinting cruelly in the low light of the street.

He opens his mouth to speak again but is interrupted by a cry of, “Get down!” From the sky. Lance jerks his head up and catches a glimpse of Keith, riding in from out of nowhere on Red's back. Her scales shimmer in the moonlight marvelously, and her eyes glow an angry orange. Lance has about a second to process what he's said before it sinks in what Keith is probably about to do and he thinks in horror, _Shiro!_ Lance leaps to knock Shiro out of the way just in time for the both of them to avoid being scorched by red-hot flames. As it is, Lance shields Shiro from the fire with his body, resulting in the tangible searing of the flesh on his back which is turned to the heat. It's over in the blink of an eye, and Lance is sitting up again, blinking in confusion. Is Sendak dead?

He unfortunately gets his answer a moment later when the man in question stands up and stumbles back out of the scorched earth completely unharmed. His lips are drawn back in a horrible, evil smirk and he's laughing periodically as if he's come unhinged. He spreads his arms in a ‘come at me’ gesture and looks to the sky where Keith and Red hover in horror victoriously. “Nice try, red paladin! I am a Galra!” He shouts to the sky. It is then that Lance realizes the ropes binding his wrists were singed in the wake of the fire and his hands are free. He brings them in front of him incredulously, wiggling his fingers, and looks to Sendak carefully. He's still monologuing self-righteously. Lance blinks in thought and begins the slow process of discreetly wiggling his way over to behind Sendak.

“The Galra are the perfect race, the result of a magical experiment by Emperor Zarkon and Lady Haggar! We are part Drow and part demon, with all the benefits of both! We are invincible, paladins! You will bow to us! You will suffer at the hands of the-”

Lance cuts him off, finally having made his way behind Sendak. “Hey, asshole!” He calls, and Sendak turns in irritation. This irritation turns to shock the moment his eyes land on Lance, bow drawn and poised to shoot an arrow. “Are you invincible to _this?_ ” He taunts, and looses the arrow. It whizzes towards Sendak and lands with a _thunk_ directly in his chest, knocking him to the ground immediately. Keith whoops from atop Red, cheering Lance on. “Magical bow and arrow, bitch,” Lance sneers, and then he's hit all at once with the pain from his burn wound, and promptly passes the fuck out.

He comes to in one of the weird gurney beds he saw earlier when he went to talk to Coran. His mouth feels like it's filled with cotton balls, and he groans in a vain attempt to convey this. He doesn't expect it to work, but it must, because as soon as he makes a noise a veritable crowd rushes to his bedside. The whole team is there- Shiro included, although he's suffering a large amount of bruises on his otherwise pale, spotless neck. Lance wishes he could have done something to prevent it. Keith is chewing at his lip like it's committed some personal offense to him, and Hunk is nervously wringing his hands. Coran immediately offers him a cup of tea, which he takes gratefully. It tastes great- fruity, floral maybe, he notes- but that's not what he's concerned with right now. Once he's rehydrated himself, he sets the tea to the side and props himself up on his elbows in the bed. “Who died?” He asks nervously, laughing weakly. When nobody responds, he frowns and prompts further, “Seriously, what happened? Why does everyone look so worried?”

Coran furrows his eyebrows and sighs, rubbing his temples. It's silent for several long moments as everyone simply looks to him expectantly. Finally, he speak up gravely, “The burn wound was much worse than you likely originally believed, Lance. You had a third degree burn- very close to being a fourth degree burn, in fact, and then perhaps life-threatening because of the fact that it was so close to so many major organs. You were incredibly close to dying, Lance.” With Coran done talking, everyone's attention swings back to Lance. 

He laughs nervously once again, scratching his head sheepishly. “But I'm fine?” He tries asserting. It comes out sounding unsure.

Coran’s lips just turn further down into a frown. The expression looks fundamentally wrong on the man. “You will have a scar. Take it easy,” he tells him, before turning and heading out of the room. Similarly, after that, everyone seems to scatter. Keith stomps out first, thoroughly pouting and with his fists balled up. Lance wonders what's up with him. Matt follows afterwards, telling Lance he's glad he's okay. Allura pats him gratefully on the arm and then ducks out, citing her work as her reason for leaving. Pidge gives him an uncharacteristic hug before she pulls back and slaps him scoldingly, telling him not to take a risk like that again. Then she, too, disappears. Hunk gives him a much more forceful, teary, emotional hug, blubbering and saying he's so happy he's alive. He's the last one to leave save for Shiro, who lingered behind on a gurney-bed the whole time. 

Shiro steps up to him sheepishly, one hand rubbing his neck, and smiles bashfully. It's a strange look on a man so strong and stoic-looking. He takes a tentative seat on the edge of Lance's bed. “I just wanted to thank you,” he says to Lance, and Lance blinks in confusion. Shiro must see it in his face, because he clarifies, “Keith told me what happened. You saved my life, and almost lost yours because of it. I wanted to say thank you, and let you know that I'm in your debt. If I ever get the chance to repay the favor to you, let me know, and I will do it in a heartbeat.”

Lance blinks slowly. He doesn't feel as if he's hearing this right. Finally, he shakes his head. “No, Shiro, that's okay. You don't have to do anything to make it up to me. I'm here, aren't I? Don't worry about it. I would have saved your life no matter what.” Lance places his hand on Shiro's upper arm consolingly, and the man's eyes widen in surprise, as if he hadn't thought of this before. It would almost be laughable, if it weren't so sad. Shiro's life is worth more than just a _favor,_ Lance thinks.

Shiro stands then, and his face does this odd thing as he tries to smile. “Thanks, Lance,” he says eventually, “that means a lot.” Then he turns and walks out of the room rather mechanically, which _is_ actually laughable. Lance thinks he broke him, maybe.

And after that, it's just Lance alone in the healing room with his thoughts. He doesn't really wanna stick around that big, empty room for too long- not when he can literally feel Blue calling to him from his bed- so he cautiously stands and makes his way into the kitchen. Coran sits there alone, for once, nursing his own cup of tea. He raises it at Lance in greeting, and promptly informs him, “It's pretty late, actually. Everyone probably wants to get some rest since they were so rudely awakened last night and then spent all day today watching you. I know you just woke up, but you should rest, too- your body still needs to heal.” Lance agrees with no qualms; he was already planning on going up and catching some z’s. His body's tired from healing, can you blame him?

He heads up the stairs and stops in front of his closed door, but once he's there he finds he's hesitant to go in. Blue is a warm presence just beyond the barrier of the door, but something is still bothering him.

His gaze slides over to Keith's door and lands there. Something _vaguely Keith-shaped_ is bothering him, actually.

What is Keith's problem? He saved Lance and then Lance shot Sendak, happily ever after. End of story. Or… maybe not? Maybe Keith is waiting for Lance to thank him. Maybe he's upset that Lance didn't tell him he got Blue back. There are a lot of maybes here. _Maybe_ Lance should just go in and ask Keith. He steps up to Keith's door like a baseball player stepping up to the plate to bat and eyeballs it warily. 

He raises his hand to the door hesitantly. Should he…? He's still not sure he wants to bother Keith, after all, the guy could be sleeping. Lance sighs, digging his other hand deeper into his pocket, and resigns himself to just knock already. He raps quickly against the door with the back of his hand. “Hey, Keith? You awake in there?” He lets his arm fall back to his side.

There's no answer from inside the room. He leans closer to the door, straining to hear any activity from inside. “Keith?” He calls again, fingers instinctively seeking the door handle and lingering there. “I just wanted to talk about, you know, what happened. And… thank you, maybe?” It's silent for a moment more. Is Keith like, still alive? Lance is being pretty loud out here in the hallway, he's beginning to worry he might be waking up other people. “Are you even awake in there? I'm coming in,” Lance warns, before turning the door handle and barging into the room.

It's empty. It looks shockingly similar to Lance's own room just next door, only you know… it's Keith's. The bed sits in the center of the room, empty and unmade, sheets strewn across it, and Keith's dagger is sitting discarded on top of the dresser. Lance doesn't think he's ever actually seen the guy without it. It's a little disconcerting to see the blade abandoned in a Keith-less room, sitting all on its lonesome.

A quick glance over the room reveals that the window shutters have been thrown open. The lacy curtains that hang in all their rooms flutter in the night breeze suspiciously, so Lance walks over to examine the open window. He pokes his head out the window frame and examines the outside wall. When he turns his head up, he finds that the roof is only a handhold away, which gives him a bit of an idea. Maybe it's a horrible idea, but an idea nonetheless. He clambers out the window headfirst, clinging to the window frame for dear life, and stands perched on the edge of the windowsill. Then he stands, grabs ahold of the edge of the roof, and hoists himself up.

Sure enough, Keith is sitting on the other side of the roof facing away from Lance, wrapped around his knees and hunched into a little ball with his tail curled around himself. Lance takes a few cautious steps towards his side of the roof before pausing in his approach. “Hey there, Samurai. What are you doing up here?”

Keith seems to startle at his appearance, his pointed ears flicking upwards in shock violently, but regains composure fairly quickly. He props his chin up on his arm, which is currently wrapped around his knees. “Looking at the stars. I used to do it all the time as a kid.” His tail swishes a little, and Lance feels compelled to go sit next to him. He does, plopping down criss-cross applesauce a couple feet away.

“Oh, yeah?” Lance asks. “In the game, or in real life?” Lance places his hands into his jacket pockets. None of them ever talk about real life anymore. They don't acknowledge that they're in some kind of a hellish simulation. They sure as hell never acknowledged the introduction of the fake memories, and Lance doesn't know why doing it now feels like breaking some unspoken rule.

“Both,” Keith answers vaguely. Lance nods slowly and hums in understanding. That's fair. Keith doesn't have to share if he doesn't want to.

It's uncomfortably silent for what seems like way too much time.

Keith finally breaks, and glances over at Lance with a tilt of his head. “Do you ever think about how they aren't real?” He whispers, in a voice so quiet even a mouse would struggle to hear it.

“What?” Lance asks, completely baffled.

Keith casts his faintly glowing eyes down at the roof below him, his bottom lip jutting out in a pout. He looks so sad, Lance thinks, and he has no clue why. He kind of wants to know why. Keith is the only one of them who's seemed like he's been completely holding it together this whole time, aside from the occasional hotheaded outburst. Has it all just been a front?

Keith finally pries his eyes up and away from the tiling of the roof after several excruciatingly long seconds, and juts his chin up towards the sky. Lance follows his gaze. The stars hang in the night sky, twinkling softly, and the almost-full moon casts its glow over the land of Altea. “The stars,” Keith murmurs forlornly, staring at them longingly. “They aren't real here.”

Lance blinks. He hesitates for a moment and lets this complaint sink in, glancing from the stars to Keith’s miserable face and back again. _This_ is what's been bothering him so much? Lance raises an eyebrow and leans back on the palms of one of his hands. “I hate to break it to you, Keith, but nothing here is real. We're trapped inside a video game, man.” Keith shoots him a death glare, the fringe of his bangs falling into his face. He doesn't bother to push it back. Lance wonders why he itches to reach up and do it himself.

“I _know_ that, you dumbass,” he hisses, crossing his arms in indignation. Then he softens as he glances upwards again. “It's just… the stars used to be the one thing that was constant, y’know? I traveled all around the country, but I could always still look up and see the same stars. And now they're just… gone. They're gone, and they've been replaced by these, these… binary imposters. Strings of ones and zeroes _pretending_ to be stars. They're just programmed to look pretty and twinkle from a distance. I _hate_ it.” He sniffles a little, and Lance's head snaps over to him in concern. His eyes are watering and he looks like he's struggling not to cry.

Lance scoots over closer to him and places a hand on his shoulder with as much comfort as he can muster up. “Hey, Keith, what's this really about? I know you can't be this bothered about some computer programming, because everything is computer programming. _We're_ ones and zeroes right now, and you don't seem too bothered by that. So… if you wanna talk to me about what's really worrying you, I'll listen,” he offers with a shrug. 

Keith turns to Lance, his eyes now wet with unshed tears and downcast. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't be bothering you with my problems. It's just, we're stuck here and I'm probably gonna die in here and I'm never gonna get to know my mom. I'm never gonna get to have a family, and I'm gonna die all alone in a video game. I mean, fuck, I almost killed you yesterday for _no reason,_ Lance. We're all gonna die in here.” His voice breaks a little during this admittance, and Lance subconsciously tightens his hand on Keith's shoulder, which he hadn't realized was still there. Keith looks up and meets his eyes.

Lance clears his throat, eyebrows knitting together sympathetically. “Hey… no. First of all, you _didn't_ almost kill me. You saved mine and Shiro's lives by burning through the rope tying me up, so jot that down. Second of all, that's not gonna happen. I promise you none of that's gonna happen because you have us, and we won't let you die. We won't let _each other_ die. I don't know the whole story behind why you need to find your mom, but I personally promise you that I will make sure that you get out of here alive so you can find her. And while you're in here, we've got your back. I've got your back, okay?” Keith, despite himself smiles at this assurance, and Lance selfishly feels a little redeemed for all the fights he picked with the guy. “If it's not too much to ask, why do you need to find your mom in the first place?” Lance doesn't think too much of the question, but Keith's face immediately falls. His eyebrows furrow together sadly.

Lance has half a mind to retract the question right away just because of that response, but Keith just gives him a half-frown and sighs. “My mom left me and my dad when I was little,” he begins. “I don't even remember her, really. All I have to go off of is a few pictures from my dad. Dad was never mad at her for it, though. He said she left because she knew it was the best thing to do, and he never stopped loving her. Then my dad died in a fire when I was eight. I was shoved into the foster care system and bounced around until I met Shiro's family, who adopted me. That's _why_ the stars are so important to me. When I moved from house to house and state to state, I'd look up and be comforted by the fact that somewhere in the world, I had a mom who was doing the same. But… now they're just gone. And it seems like my chances of ever finding her are too, so.” He shrugs sadly and leans onto one hand off to the side.

Lance stares at him sorrowfully, contemplating. He had no clue Keith went through so much. The knowledge fills him with some strange urge to wrap Keith up and protect him, which is ridiculous, because Keith could probably kill a man. But he still has to _help_. Lance frowns. “I have never been through anything like that,” he prefaces, “and I'm not going to claim that I can understand your pain. But I do know how hard it is to be alone when you don't want to, and I will promise you that as long as it is within my power to do so, I will always be there for you. Whatever you need, as long as it's within reason. I swear. Pinky swear,” he tacks on, offering up the littlest finger of his right hand to Keith.

Keith honest to god giggles, and holds up his pinky in return, linking it around Lance's. “Pinky swear.” He doesn't retract his pinky, just leaves it wrapped around Lance's. Lance wonders distantly if Keith knows how pinky swears actually work or if he's ever made one before. He sure as hell isn't about to tell him you're supposed to let go. “Thanks, Lance,” he mumbles after what seems like an eternity, bumping his shoulder into Lance's and staying there. He finally unlinks his pinky then.

Lance feels like his heart is going a little too fast. Why is Keith's shoulder touching his? Isn't that too close? He fights against his racing thoughts until Keith's head thuds against his shoulder and then all hell breaks loose. He's _laying_ on his _shoulder,_ holy shit, Lance can feel his ponytail tickling the bare skin of Lance's collarbone. One of the tips of his horns just grazes the skin where Lance's neck meets his jaw and he can feel the rhythm of Keith's smooth, even breathing. He's _asleep_. Lance can never, ever move ever again.

He holds impossibly still, trying as hard as he can despite all odds to hold even his breath so he won't wake Keith up. He succeeds for approximately thirty seconds before he has to inhale in a shuddering breath, turning his head to Keith in a panic that he's woken him up. Keith remains peacefully asleep, however, and a strand of his bangs flutters down into his eyes as he takes a breath and hangs there. Lance allows himself to really stare at Keith for probably the first time since the game started. Objectively, he's very attractive, it's easy to see. Of course, every member of the alpha team has ridiculously attractive avatars in Lance's opinion, that's the point of the customization settings, but Keith sure did a good job designing his.

His nose angles downwards in a gentle slope and is dusted with a light smattering of dark red freckles. His eyelashes paint spiderweb shadows across the planes of his face, and his lips hang open the slightest bit as he breathes in and out to reveal the barest hint of tiny little fangs inside his mouth, which is just _unfairly_ adorable. As Lance regards him, he finds his free hand moving to tuck the stray piece of hair back behind a pointed ear almost subconsciously and shocks himself. Keith still doesn't stir, though, so Lance once again relaxes.

He carefully stretches his legs out in front of him until he's in a comfortable position and leans back on one hand, regarding the sky in front of him tolerantly. He supposes he should settle in for a long night.

Lance watches the sky until the stars begin to fade one by one and it begins to paint with whites, oranges, yellows, pinks, and eventually blues as the sun rises. Through it all, Keith remains sound asleep against his shoulder. At some point during the night, he begins softly snoring directly into Lance's right ear. Lance feels that he should find this annoying or horrible, but instead it's just super endearing. Only when the sun is high in the sky and signs of life begin to stir below does Keith finally rise. He sits rather suddenly, jerking his head up and blinking his eyes open blearily. His bangs are swooped up on the side of his face where he started slipping down Lance's shoulder in the middle of the night and there's dried drool on the side of his cheek. He blinks in confusion at Lance, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Wha’ happened?”

Lance looks over at him and tries very, very hard not to laugh. He's so sleep deprived. “You fell asleep on my shoulder,” he tells him, “missed a hell of a sunrise.” He takes the opportunity to stretch out his right arm, which is thoroughly numb.

Keith squints at him like he doesn't understand. He furrows his eyebrows together like he's trying very hard to connect the dots. “Wait a minute. Did you… not sleep?” Lance's sheepish look must be answer enough for him because his eyes widen in guilt or horror or shock or _something_. Lance is fucking tired, god, he can't tell what that look is. “I kept you awake? Oh my god, why didn't you wake me up?!”

“You looked so peaceful,” Lance shrugs, now massaging his shoulder with his left hand and trying desperately to regain feeling. “I didn't want to wake you up. I didn't mind it, really. The sunrise was pretty. Maybe you can watch it with me next time.” Keith looks astounded at this suggestion and Lance feels his cheeks begin to color as he belatedly realizes he's implied there will be a _next time,_ and he did not mean to do that. Oops. He hastily stands and stretches, almost falling back down to the roof as his muscles protest. “Well, we oughta head into the kitchen. Allura will have our heads if we're late to today's briefing,” he bluffs, trying to distract from his blunder. 

Keith follows after him, clambering down into the window almost effortlessly, but he looks dazed and a little far-off. “Maybe next time,” Lance hears him belatedly and quietly repeat as he trails behind, and his heart skips a beat without his consent. Dammit, Keith, _why_ couldn't you drop it? Lance steels himself, pushes all errant thoughts of Keith far from his brain for the foreseeable future, and enters the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The roof scene in this chapter has been written forever and I'm so excited to finally post it! If you couldn't tell, that's the scene the fic title is derived from.
> 
> Sorry if this chapter seems like it went up a little late- I've been super busy with college stuff this week and the Sendak scene was just. Ugh. Giving me trouble. Hope it turned out as imposing as I was going for. 
> 
> I hope you guys liked this chapter though- it's a big one, I've been planning it for a long time! One of my favorites, I think!
> 
> Don't forget to leave a kudos or a comment if you enjoyed it- I always like hearing from you guys!


	8. Eltanin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A river in Egypt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a heads up- there's a literal invented language in this chapter. Like, don't go trying to translate it because I made it up. Translations are in the end notes if you want to read them- it's not necessary to understand the story, though.
> 
> Also big end notes on this one. Thicc plot.

So.

Lance _tries_ , very hard, to hold his head up and just walk into the kitchen late, together with Keith, with his dignity intact.

The operative word there is _tries_ , because that plan backfires immensely. He and Keith make the stupid mistake of trying to fit through the doorway at the _exact same time_ , so not only do they both show up fashionably late, they stumble all over each other getting into the room and look like dumbasses doing it. Once he regains his balance and straightens up, he shoots a glare in Keith's direction, who returns the expression to him with confused, furrowed brows. It seems like at least for now, Lance is in the clear as far as rooftop bonding moment lines of questioning go.

At least, that is until Lance turns to face the rest of the group and his eyes land directly on Pidge, who somehow manages to radiate the most smug, self-satisfied energy Lance has ever encountered- despite her avatar's face _literally_ only possessing a single static pair of glowing, green, robotic eyes, which by all rights _should_ greatly limit her scope of expressions. But of course, it doesn't. Typical Pidge.

Lance aims a pleading look at her and she huffs in annoyance, redirecting her attention to Keith. Lance relaxes and instead looks to Allura, satisfied now that Pidge is off of his back. Allura is thankfully up and about today, seemingly feeling a lot better after their chat and perhaps more driven to complete their quest, now that several of them have had close brushes with death- Lance knows that he is, especially having been one of those _close brushes with death_. "What are we up to today, o great and fearless leader?"

Allura scoffs at him, raising an eyebrow. One of her ears twitches minutely as she huffs, "Show some respect, Lance. I'm not your leader. I'm not even part of the paladins of old. I am merely serving as a quest-giver of sorts in this operation as I receive the information."

"But you are a princess, Allura!" Coran pipes up supportively from the sidelines of the kitchen where he stands patiently.

The corner of Allura’s lip twitches up in something like amusement. "I suppose I am, Coran," she concedes with a nod of her head. Lance notes that despite her newfound determination, there's still a lingering hint of sadness somewhere deep in her eyes- but that's a query for another time, he supposes.

Pidge isn't quite as lenient with her curiosity, even though it admittedly doesn't align with Lance's. Her eyes flicker in thought before she tilts her head thoughtfully at Allura. "Where exactly _are_ you receiving this information from? If you're the quest-giver, where are you getting our quests from?"

Everyone turns to Allura questioningly but she waves them off. "Don't worry about it," she says, "Most of it is just ancient Altean knowledge ingrained into my memories." Coran shoots her a momentary questioning glance but says nothing, so Lance dismisses the gesture. The rest of the crew nods in understanding and Allura strides around the other side of the kitchen table to where a map has been laid out. She points a finger to the cave systems of Balmera and Hunk immediately perks up. Lance elbows his buddy and Hunk noticeably reddens before shoving Lance off. _Interesting,_ Lance thinks. "Anyways. We need to make a journey back to Balmera to pick up a few Balmeran healing crystals. They're what powers the Altean healing beds and the combination of the beds' old age and Lance's close call apparently drained the beds more than we thought. We need to recharge them." Pidge snickers at this and murmurs something that sounds suspiciously like, 'battery pack,' but a glare from Allura shuts her up.

"Before any of you jump to conclusions," Allura prefaces, "we are not taking the dragons." Several groans echo throughout the room and Allura rushes to defend herself. "I mean! We aren't flying on them. They're too conspicuous. The Galra already have a bounty on our heads, we don't need to advertise ourselves by flying in a pack of large, brightly-colored dragons." Lance reluctantly agrees with this notion, to his own chagrin. Who knows how many other Galra are out there looking for them, if Sendak already found them after a whopping three days? The last thing they need right now is to make themselves more obvious. Which, sadly, probably means foot travel from now on.

Allura clears her throat and proposes, "I believe we should leave at once. It's early morning- if we leave now, we can get a good start on the trip and the longer we wait around, the longer the healing beds are inoperable. We don't want to be caught without them." Again, Lance reluctantly agrees, and it seems like everyone else does, too. Sendak’s attack really shook all of them. None of them want a repeat incident without the quick-fix this time. Even the thought makes Lance shudder.

Shiro finally speaks up for the group as their leader. "I think we all agree, Allura. It makes sense to leave now. We'll call our dragons here and then we can head out."

Lance calls out to Blue in his mind and asks her to join them- he can sense she's still holed away up in his room, so it shouldn't take too long for her to reach them. He's trying to get a read on precisely where she is when Matt fake-coughs awkwardly into one hand and shifts to the side, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "Um… If it's okay with all you guys, I think I'd rather stay here with Coran and hold down the fort. I'm no legendary paladin, and to be completely honest I'm not even one hundred percent in control of all my new limbs yet. So." He grins at them all but it's more of a grimace, and Shiro stares back in shock.

"Uh, of course, Matt. Whatever you wanna do. You… you know you wouldn't be holding us back, though, right?" Shiro asks, almost as more of an aside. His eyebrows are furrowed together so completely Lance almost doesn't think there's any space between them.

Matt waves him off. "Obviously, Shiro. I just feel like I could be of more help here, is all. I'll be waiting right here when you guys get back, don't worry."

Coran is the one who finally claps his hands and breaks up the argument, startling literally everyone other than himself with the sudden loud noise. "That's settled, then!" He declares. "Matt will stay here with me and you all will make the trek to Balmera to pick up the healing crystals!" He says something else, but Lance doesn't hear it because that's when Blue stalks down the stairway, positively radiating her annoyance. It's a loud, distracting buzz in the back of his head.

 _"Where were you last night? I was worried,"_ she grumbles, slinking over to his side. Lance's eyes subconsciously dart over to Keith, wondering if he's getting the same stern talking-to from Red, who appeared a short time earlier, and Blue's mood shifts completely. She feels… amused. _"Ah. I see. You were with the red paladin. All night? That happened faster than I expected. Congratulations."_ Lance splutters, choking loudly on his own spit and likely sporting a nasty blush. The majority of the eyes in the room turn to him in question.

Lance can practically _feel_ his blush darken under all the scrutiny. "Sorry," he apologizes, "frog in my throat." As soon as everyone turns away, he whirls on Blue and hisses, " _Blue!_ No way!" He does his best to convey thoroughly through his thoughts that she is wrong, so wrong, she has the wrong idea, he doesn't like Keith like that. He _couldn't_ like Keith like that. Keith is just… a really cool guy. Who Lance happens to admire. But he's his rival. _Not_ anything else, no way.

He senses more than hears Blue's smug, _"Uh-huh, sure. Keep telling that to yourself,"_ in the back of his head, but he chooses to adamantly ignore it.

It isn't long before all of their dragons arrive, notably not as dragons. It's not hard to notice a pattern between the five of them- they're all different large cats, a theory Lance had from the get-go based off of Blue's suspiciously catlike behavior. They're quite the ragtag lineup, the group of them, although Lance has to concede that to an outsider the five of them are probably rather intimidating. Lance has of course grown accustomed to Blue's snow leopard form. He'd briefly seen Red as a cheetah in the stables before, as well as Shiro's rather awe-inspiring black panther, but he hasn't seen Hunk and Pidge’s dragons yet. Granted, he saw Yellow as a dragon, but certainly not as a cat. He, it seems, takes on the form of a large, stocky jaguar, now sitting on its haunches next to Hunk. Pidge’s dragon is a little more unconventional- it's a rather small and very fluffy lynx with eerily green eyes. It lies down calmly next to Pidge, one large ear twitching up and down lazily.

They set out shortly after that. Allura informs them the journey is going to be long by foot, but luckily most of it seems to sort of blend together to Lance. He chats idly with Hunk on the way there as Pidge and Keith spitfire ahead of them in Infernal and Allura and Shiro lead the way discussing strategy or something else equally as boring. Turns out there's an NPC in Balmera that Hunk has developed a bit of a crush on, which Lance has to assure him isn't weird at all because he has to remember she's a real person behind her avatar, acting in real time. Just like Coran. Of course, after assuring him it's okay, he thoroughly teases him for his crush because come on, it's his best friend- that's only fair.

He's in the middle of enthusiastically recounting a story to Hunk about how Blue had pouted for the whole day the other day and he had to seek her out when he's unceremoniously interrupted by Keith. Literally. He runs straight into Keith's back.

Keith turns to glare at him with a frown and Lance shrugs. He turns back around with a huff and Lance notices the whole group has come to a stop. "What's going on, guys?" He asks cautiously.

Shiro shushes him. "Black says there's people up ahead," he warns. "Two of them." Lance feels his whole body go rigid. The last time Shiro shushed him and warned him there were people up ahead, it didn't exactly end well for him. He really does not want another similar incident.

"I say we proceed with caution," Keith whispers, eyes darting around the surrounding forest like he's trying to spot the offending individuals. Shiro nods his agreement and they set forward again, moving in a bit of a huddle this time. The cats stalk around the edges of their group protectively.

A few seconds later, they come into a clearing. Before they can even get their bearings, they're ambushed by a tall, lanky, purplish-blue fish-man with white hair who latches onto Shiro. "Oh, thank god you're here! Me and my cousin here were traveling to Spearwell and we got horribly lost. Could we get some directions?" The guy jerks a thumb over his shoulder to a tree stump in the middle of the clearing, where a dejected girl sits slumped over with her head propped up on her knees. She has reptilian features and yellow scales cover her skin. Her hair falls in thick ropes which upon further inspection are actually writhing snakes, not hair at all. Her eyes are a deep magenta with slitted pupils. Lance is immediately enamored.

Hunk raises one eyebrow though, not as easily convinced, and looks back and forth between the two travelers skeptically. " _Cousin?_ " He asks critically. Lance sees his point. The two aren't even of the same species, but hey, who is he to judge family connections? Especially when one of them is so attractive.

The girl rolls her eyes from where she sits over on the stump. Several of her snakes perk up. "Not in the game, dummy. In real life." Lance blinks, taking this information in. These are NPCs. Who have just acknowledged the fact that they are in a game in order to talk about their lives _outside_ of the game. It's a little meta, a little Inception-style. After all, if your job is being in a game, at what point are you still working and at what point are you just playing a game?

He brushes it off. Shiro steps forward cheerfully. "We would be happy to help you find your way to Spearwell." Hunk looks a little disgruntled- Lance thinks he probably wants to hurry and get back to Balmera so he can talk with his girl. Lance sympathizes- he can't wait to chat up that beautiful snake-lady over in the center of the clearing. Shiro holds a hand out for a handshake and the guy accepts happily. "I'm Shiro, and this is Allura, Keith, Pidge, Hunk, and Lance. We're on our way to Balmera, but you're welcome to take a look at our map before we go."

The guy nods his acknowledgement and gestures to himself. "Thanks. I'm Rolo, and my cousin here is Nyma. We'd appreciate all the help you have to give." He and Shiro begin discussing boring map things and Lance slips away as fast as he can to where Nyma still sits poised on the stump.

"Hey," he introduces himself with a wink. "The name's Lance."

Nyma raises one dainty eyebrow at him. "Nyma, but you already knew that," she responds coolly. She glances down at Blue, who has trailed Lance over to the stump. "Who's your friend here? I don't believe we've been acquainted."

Lance scratches the back of his head sheepishly and chuckles nervously. He's not technically supposed to show off the dragons, but… he supposes that for the sake of flirting with a cute girl, it can be done. "This is Blue," he gestures, and Blue's tail swishes behind her curiously. "See, I'm the blue paladin of Altean prophecy, destined to take down Zarkon. She's my dragon, but she's shape-shifted into a cat right now. I could show you her dragon form and maybe take you for a ride, if you want?" Nyma’s eyes sparkle at that.

"Oh, Lance, that sounds wonderful! Wanna step out of this clearing? I know there's another smaller one a little ways away- we walked through it on our way here." Lance nods and Nyma stands up, leading the way out of the clearing. Blue follows behind them apprehensively; Lance can feel that she's nervous about _something._ Even if he has no idea what it is; he's about to score with a cute girl. What's there to be nervous about? 

Nyma finally stops in a much smaller clearing about five minutes away. She promptly sits on the ground with her legs crossed patiently and looks up at him. "Okay. Show me."

Lance asks Blue to change back in his mind. She refuses. He begs her, pleads with her, implores her. She still doesn't want to. _"I don't have a good feeling about this,"_ she warns.

Lance reluctantly turns back to Nyma after about twenty seconds of silence. "She doesn't want to shift right now. I can't _make_ her do it."

Nyma raises her eyebrows and huffs at him angrily. "Okay, yeah, _sure._ Maybe _Keith_ will show me his dragon and give me a ride if I ask him, then," she grumbles, and Lance snaps to attention. No way. She can't go to _Keith_ of all people instead of him.That's almost blasphemous. Keith probably wouldn't even care enough to show her Red, right? 

_Right?_ Shit. He's actually not sure. 

"Wait!" Lance yelps just as Nyma begins to stand. "I'll convince her. I'll do it." Nyma smiles smugly as she settles back down and Lance turns back to pleading with Blue to please just be a dragon for at least one second.

Finally, she huffs and gives in, changing to her dragon form. Nyma gasps in delight and clasps her hands together, turning to Lance excitedly. She opens her mouth to say something but whatever comes out is garbled like no words Lance has ever heard before. He frowns in confusion and tries to tilt his head to say something only to find he's frozen in place. "Hey!" He shouts at her indignantly, grateful he can still speak. "I can't move!"

She smirks at him wickedly and stands up, moving close enough that she can trail a single finger under the line of his jaw mockingly. "Yes, that _was_ the plan, honey. Although you talk so much, it's a shame my binding spell didn't bind your mouth shut, too." She walks her way over to Blue, who also seems to be frozen in place, and runs a reverent hand along her scales. "You know, your dragon is so pretty. It's a shame my cousin and I will have to hand her over to Zarkon." Blue's panic at this thought is downright _painful_ in Lance's head, coming into existence and ricocheting around his brain like some kind of cartoon bullet. He does his best to try and calm her but that's a little tricky to do when he himself is a little worried as well.

Nyma flat-out uproots the chunk of earth Blue is standing on from the ground with a wave of her hand and levitates it out of the clearing. As soon as she's out of earshot, Lance performs the communication spell Coran gave him and sends a message to the rest of the team. "Guys!" He screeches, "They're working for Zarkon! Nyma cast a spell on me and stole Blue and I'm trapped in this clearing a few minutes away!"

"Aha! I _knew_ they were untrustworthy!" Hunk crows not even a moment after Lance finishes speaking. 

Lance whimpers. "Maybe not the most important thing here, Hunk." Hunk murmurs a sheepish apology.

Shiro's voice comes in. "Okay. Well, if Nyma has Blue, then Allura and I can track her down and retrieve Blue. Hunk can stay here and keep an eye out in case they return. Pidge and Keith, you two go free Lance."

There's radio silence after that and Lance is stuck waiting for who knows how long for Pidge and Keith to show up. Thankfully, he hears them trek their way in not even four minutes later. He can tell because a branch breaks behind him. "Oh thank quiznak. I am getting _really_ tired of standing like this," he breathes, releasing the pent-up breath he'd been holding in.

The two of them stroll around his side and regard him with curiosity, both of their eyebrows raised. Lance frowns. Pidge’s eyes blink on and off. "So, you can't move?" She pipes up.

He sighs and narrows his eyes. "Does it _look_ like I can move?" She shrugs. He groans in frustration. "No. No, I can't, thank you very much." Pidge hums in thought. Keith swishes his tail behind him in a slow arc. 

Keith purses his lips and squints his eyes. "Were you… _flirting_ with her?" He places emphasis on the word flirting as if it's some kind of taboo, and Lance scoffs.

"Why yes, Keith, I was. She's a very attractive snake-girl. I thought I'd try my luck. I didn't think she'd _paralyze_ me and steal my dragon from me, even in all my imagined worst case scenarios." He says this last bit sarcastically, because _wow_ , this is a wild situation. However, Keith just hmms judgmentally, as if maybe he _should_ have considered this possibility in the first place. Stupid Keith. Lance just closes his eyes for a second, takes a deep breath, and recenters himself. Have patience, he reminds himself. These are your friends, and perhaps they aren't quite _grasping_ the fact that you _literally cannot move a muscle_ save for your facial muscles. And that that is incredibly annoying. "So. Can you fix it?" He asks Pidge gratingly.

She makes a metallic clicking noise he thinks is similar to clicking her tongue or her teeth in consideration. "Yeah, I think so. Give me a minute, though." Her eyes blink dark as she readies herself to cast the reverse spell.

Keith shoves his hands in his pockets awkwardly, left alone with Lance, and one of his ears flicks endearingly. It's silent for a few horribly long moments. "You sure get incapacitated a lot," Keith finally says casually, then immediately afterwards looks somewhat mortified with himself for saying it. "I mean," he stutters, "first being stuck in a trance with Blue, then getting tied up by Sendak, and now this binding spell? It's just weird, is all. You should _probably_ stop it." The tips of his ears flush noticeably darker and Lance chuckles.

"Yeah, I guess. Would if I could and all that, Keith. But you seem to rescue me a lot, too, so I guess we're even." Keith reddens even more at that, almost a concerning shade, and Lance momentarily panics that he's gone too far, but then Pidge’s eye lights blink back on and he forgets his worries. Pidge makes a whirring noise and looks back and forth between the two of them skeptically before her eyes land on Lance and stay there.

She considers him for a moment. "Okay," she says, "you should be good. I think I undid the spell." Lance blinks slowly as this information sets in.

"Oh," he murmurs belatedly, moving for the first time since Nyma bound him in place. To be honest, after a few minutes of being stuck in place, it just slipped his mind to even try and move anymore. "Thanks, Pidgey," he tells her, stretching his limbs. They're strangely sore even despite the fact that he's only been immobile for about ten minutes- must be a side effect of the spell, he figures. He tugs an arm up and behind his head, pulling on it gently to stretch the muscles, and rolls his other shoulder at the same time. "Should we head back to meet up with Hunk? He's probably waiting for us."

Keith immediately strides ahead of him and Pidge, setting a brisk pace. "Sounds good to me," he calls back, swinging his arms almost mechanically as he walks. Lance frowns, his whole face tugging downwards. Pidge snickers and Lance turns to look at her.

He raises an eyebrow once Keith's out of earshot. "What's up with him?" He asks, eyes darting off towards the direction he stalked away in. Pidge shrugs at him, but her eyes flicker in amusement.

"I'm not sure," she chuckles, heading off in the same direction as Keith, "but I _am_ sure it's some angsty dramatic shit. It always is, with Keith. He's a closeted drama queen." She squints at Lance before huffing out an amused laugh and tacking on, "A lot like you, actually, but he does a much better job of shoving all his drama away and bottling it up where nobody will ever see it. _You_ , on the other hand, let all your feelings bubble up to the surface at every second of every day." 

Pidge keeps on strolling along like she _didn't_ just pick apart every aspect of Lance's personality. He narrows his eyes at her and glares, sticking his tongue out at her childishly from behind her. "Don't you psychoanalyze me, Katie Holt. I _live_ with you, two can play at that game." He crosses his arms indignantly and huffs as he follows along in her footsteps.

She tosses a bemused glance over her shoulder at him. "Uh-huh, I'm sure you have _tons_ of dirt on me, Lance. You didn't even realize I was a girl for two years after we met. Somehow, I'm not too worried." She rolls her eyes and then passes through the tree line into the original clearing. Lance frowns in offense, rushing to catch up with her.

Hunk and Keith are there already, Hunk pacing anxiously back and forth and Keith having claimed the stump in the center of the clearing, sitting and brooding. Hunk speedwalks over to Lance and clutches him by the arms. "Thank quiznak you're okay!" He presses an accusatory finger to his chest and frowns at him angrily, grumbling, " _Stop_ getting yourself into danger! You're worrying me sick!" He then yanks Lance into a bone-crushing hug. Lance squawks and flails his limbs weakly where he's hoisted several inches off of the ground by Hunk’s freakishly tall stature.

"Hunk!" He rasps, gently slapping his friend's arm in a vain effort to get him to release him. "Put me down! Can't breathe!" Hunk coos apologetically and sets him down immediately, taking a step back. Lance takes in a gasping breath, placing a steadying hand on his chest.

Hunk puts his hands right back on Lance's shoulders attentively and thoroughly checks him over for any scrapes or external damage like a mother hen. "I'm sorry!" He apologizes, lifting one of Lance's arms to give it a once-over. Lance complies, having dealt with Hunk’s anxiety all his life and knowing things will go much faster if he just goes along with it. "You just scared me so much, you know? Stop doing that, seriously! I don't want to lose my best friend." It's then that he steps back and crosses his arms in a guarded position, expression turning sheepish.

Lance's heart melts a little. He sighs and steps forward to comfort Hunk. "Hey," he tells him, "I'm sorry, too. I'll try to be more careful. And you know I can take care of myself, right? You aren't losing me anytime soon." He grins at Hunk and Hunk reluctantly grins back.

"Of course I know that. I just worry for you, okay? You're a fragile dude. I'm used to worrying for you. It's practically second nature at this point," he teases, rolling his eyes. Lance scoffs- he feels like 'fragile' is a little bit of an unfair analysis. Sure, he's a hopeless romantic that falls for anyone who so much as talks to him. Sure, he gets incredibly homesick for his family sometimes. Sure, he just gets down sometimes. _But_ , he feels 'fragile' is too strong a word.

Vulnerable, perhaps.

Nah, that's not really any better. Lance opens his mouth to offer his rebuttal when Allura and Shiro come crashing back through the undergrowth, trailed by a massive, frantic Blue still in dragon form, and Black, who Lance is just now realizing he's never seen as a dragon before now. He knows he should be paying more attention to Blue- who is currently hurtling towards him at the speed of light filling his head with a veritable flood of relief- but he's a little distracted by Black's mesmerizing appearance. She's about the same size as Blue, maybe a smidge bigger, with a crown of horns ringing her head, plated scales that glimmer black and catch the light like the night stars, and a very intriguing shimmering black beak at the front of her face. Her eyes glint a steely, courageous gray in the light.

Blue comes to a skidding stop in front of him and snarls in irritation, drawing Lance's attention from Black. He turns back to Blue and finds her pouting at him and demanding his attention. _"They almost got me. That was terrifying,"_ she affirms, nuzzling into his side. She yanks her head back to glare at him mere moments later, though, steam huffing up out of her nostrils angrily. "Told _you something didn't feel right. You should always trust me."_

Lance snorts in amusement, but wraps a fond arm around her regardless. "I know, Blue," he murmurs to her soothingly, "I should have trusted you. I'm sorry, girl." He runs a comforting hand down her scales and she arches into the touch, her anger at him dissipating with his apology.

Allura clears her throat and Lance turns to where she and Shiro stand. Shiro has braced himself against Black, who somehow exudes a calm, level-headed energy. Lance wonders if Shiro's sapping it away from her by leaning on her. He's momentarily amused by this thought- their team really being puppeteered by a dragon who makes all Shiro's conscious leaderly decisions for him. He snickers under his breath at the idea, but Allura silences him with a glare. "We have decided we will camp here for the night before setting out again tomorrow morning for Balmera," Shiro declares. "Allura and I caught Nyma and Rolo, and Allura charmed them into heading back to Arus. With any luck, Coran and Matt will be able to reform them, or at the very least, get them out of our way." He nods shortly and then sets about gathering up wood to form a bonfire for the night.

Keith joins in and so does Allura, but Pidge seems to frown down at them from where she stands. She blinks once, her glowing green eyes flickering on and off in confusion. "Uh. You guys _do_ know I have a spell that just _does that,_ right? I can cast a bonfire," she informs them, a hint of amusement in her voice. The three of them freeze in their stick-gathering, looking almost guilty to be caught doing something the hard way. Pidge snickers at their struggle.

All at once, Keith drops his bundle of sticks in a pile on the ground and whirls to Pidge, throwing his hands in the air wildly. "Well. We didn't _all_ have the foresight to pick magic-using classes, now, did we, Pidge? But by all means, please, _magic_ us up a bonfire." He resumes his pouting effective immediately and reclaims his stump, crossing his arms angrily.

Pidge rolls her eyes so hard she rolls her whole head with them, scoffing. "Okay, then, Mr. Grouchy-pants, _somebody's_ upset. I'll just light these sticks on fire, then." She casts the spell quickly, and the pile of meager sticks crackles to life with dancing orange and red flames. Shiro and Allura waste no time in tossing their collected wood on the pile as well, and soon enough they have a roaring campfire with a humble surrounding of makeshift seats as their camp. Perfect timing, as well, because the sun has just about dipped below the horizon.

Lance sits on an overturned log making a vain effort to roast some kind of bird Coran swears up and down tastes just like chicken. Lance is dubious. He's turning the plucked bird on his makeshift spit when his ears perk up at the mention of his name to his left. Unfortunately, they only perk up at the mention of his name as he is unable to understand literally anything else of the statement. " _Cha._ Nao se ma ro te Lance?" It's Pidge, chattering away to Keith again in Infernal. He tunes into the rest of the conversation, gaze still staying laser-focused on his not-chicken.

"Lance?" Keith asks, his nose wrinkling up slightly in confusion. He has a slight accent that Lance can't pinpoint when he speaks in Infernal- probably because it isn't a real language- and something about the accent drives Lance wild. He wants to hear more of it. He wants to hear more of this fake language, stupid as that may be, and the only places to hear it are Keith and Pidge- the latter of whom quite frankly speaks with all the grace of a robotic language processor. So. "Rou ro hu che er routuche cha miréwu. Siro?"

Lance tries his hardest not to wince; Keith certainly sounds annoyed. Jeez, tell him what you really think, will ya? But like, _really_ , Lance thinks, tell him what you _really_ think, Keith. In English, please. He shakes off the distracting pain that shoots through his heart at the notion that Keith has a problem with him, and tries harder to focus. "Ma er ka ngewéché, Keith." She buzzes, and oddly enough, her voice hums with amusement. Lance frowns. Does she find this funny? "Ma rodi mi _naqti rorosi_ , ma chilé hu?" She leans back on her palms where she sits on the ground, glancing up at Keith with no small amount of bemusement. Lance sees him scowl back at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Chi rou se che," he defends, tail flicking several times behind him in annoyance before eventually slumping over in defeat as Keith himself rolls his eyes. "Rupi, che er lucu. _Minu,_ " he grumbles, crossing his arms angrily. Lance feels like he's having an aneurysm. What could he have _possibly_ done to make Keith so upset?!

Pidge snickers from her spot on the ground, nudging Keith's leg. "Nai, nai," she drones, though it sounds very sarcastic, and a moment later she looks up at him cheekily. "Ma tehe che, ma kit che, ma xav ut teré che, ma xav ut huwé che!" She singsongs, alternating between pointing both her fingers at Keith teasingly.

He immediately slaps at her reprimandingly. "Tila!" He almost screeches, glancing around the camp for signs of anyone else's attention before realizing they're speaking in another language. "Ma torenouchou," he grouses. He sighs deeply and slumps over, managing, "Nai, cha nao, mwéna rou tehe che. Er che rodi rou adza se édaina za che." He sounds sort of disheartened, like he's pouting about something.

Hilariously, Pidge immediately squeals at him in return, latching onto his arm and causing Keith's eyes to go ridiculously wide. "Chi!" She scolds, yanking on his arm to tug him down to eye level and pointing a single accusatory finger right in his face. "Keith, ma alarin! Ngén che réi mi ngopuchélu!"

"Er ma _hitelungo?_ " Keith recoils, his tail snapping to attention in shock. Lance spins his not-chicken on its spit with feigned casualty. He _really_ wishes he knew what they were saying. "Chi! Che rodi chi tehe rou. Che er asuhou, Pidge," he mumbles, kicking a rock. The rock rolls to a stop in front of Lance and he itches to glance over in their direction but he knows it would most definitely be a horrible idea, foreign language barrier be damned. So he stays fake-focused on his chicken. Or not-chicken. Oops. Whatever the fuck it is.

Pidge huffs an amused breath, regarding Keith carefully with something like confusion. "Ma chilé, ma riddé er mi chalgéili lépo, Keith." That's all she says before she turns her attention back to the fire, apparently all she has to say on the matter. Lance feels a little like he's just lost his mind. Was that _whole_ conversation about him? It sure didn't seem very positive. In fact, it seemed almost overwhelmingly negative. Does Keith really hate him that much? Lance frowns at the dirt, racking his brain for what he could have possibly done so wrong to mess up. He really thought they had a good thing going, actually. Rivalry and all.

Pidge speaks up again, in English this time. "Holy quiznak. We are missing _so_ many classes." She's silent for several seconds as she stares into the fire, considering, and then her calm facade crumples. "I'm gonna lose my 4.0 GPA. I'm gonna get _kicked out of school,_ " she murmurs, holding her head in her hands in distress as if she's just realized she's in a horror movie.

Everyone looks on at her in sympathy. Well, almost everyone. Keith snorts, rolling his eyes. "Not too much of a concern when you've already _been_ kicked out." His brother shoots him a stern look and Keith frowns, sticking his tongue out at him very maturely. Lance almost chokes trying to swallow down the laugh that threatens to bubble up and out of his throat at Shiro's scandalized expression. Aside from the amusing brotherly interaction, Lance racks his brain for a reason Keith would have been kicked out of school. Had he gone to the same university as them? He had to, if he lived across from Allura. Would he have been in any of Lance's classes? _Was_ he in any of Lance's classes? Could they have met sooner and become friends? Why was he kicked out? He aches to ask Keith, but he knows it's not really the time right now, and based on the sound of his covert conversation with Pidge, he'd probably just ignore any personal questions from Lance anyways.

Keith leans to the side, propping his head up on one arm lazily. His ponytail and hoop earrings swish with the sideways movement, creating a sort of mesmerizing pendulum effect. The warm orange glow of the firelight dances and waves in the depths of his golden eyes as he stares into it contemplatively, and Lance feels a little like he's in a trance, oddly enough. He shakes himself out of it when Keith opens his mouth to speak again. "I bet the news will spread that we all went into comas separately at the same time and people will start making up conspiracy theories about us. It's a pretty weird thing to happen with no explanation when you think about it."

Lance blinks in shock, not even having considered this. Maybe someone smart could work it out and puzzle the connections together. "If we make the news, maybe someone will realize what happened to us. We could be saved." He glances around their circle hopefully only to be met with a slew of dubious faces.

Keith shakes his head gravely, earrings jangling endearingly with the motion. Lance feels his heart clench and promptly thinks go fuck off, heart, because Keith's earrings are _not cute_. Nothing about Keith is cute. Lance will not be fooled into thinking Keith is cute just because Keith is apparently a genius character designer; he has seen this man in real life and he is nothing to write home about. (He again adamantly ignores the little voice in the back of his head telling him, _yeah, right, you almost_ drooled _over him! You thought he was_ gorgeous! Fuck off, little voice.) Keith is annoying. "Nah," Keith dismisses Lance's suggestion with a wave of his hand, "if I know _anything_ about conspiracy theorists, it's that they're gonna immediately write this one off as _aliens_. We're not gonna get any help in that department." Pidge nods enthusiastically and Lance scoffs. 

"Like anybody would jump to just assuming _aliens_ because we're in collective comas. They'll probably just think we all did drugs together and overdosed or something. It's the more logical conclusion," he reasons, eyes narrowing at Keith. Keith purses his lips in return, one dubious eyebrow raising in question.

Hunk raises his hand awkwardly before promptly dropping it to his side when he realizes he can just interject. He frowns. "We aren't even all in the same place, Lance! That doesn't even make any sense."

Shiro shrugs. "You don't exactly have to be in the same place to overdose after taking drugs, Hunk. We _could_ have all been in the same place, then left that same place. Besides, some of us definitely _are_ in the same place." Hunk’s face promptly falls when he realizes his argument isn't as airtight as he thought it was.

Allura holds up her hands placatingly in the universal gesture for 'calm down.' She shushes them absent-mindedly, rolling her eyes, and grumbles, "Alright, that's enough of that. I don't think it even really matters what people _think_ happened to us. We're the only ones who know we're stuck here, anyways. Whatever the news ends up reporting is beside the point." She's silent for a moment, firelight reflecting off of the planes of her solemn face and intermingling with the pink glow of her facial markings. "I think we ought to turn in for the night," she finally reasons, tearing her eyes away from the fire. "We should sleep close together to make ourselves harder to attack, and we should take turns keeping watch."

Pidge interjects quickly, eyes flaring a brighter green in her eagerness. "No need. I can keep watch all night, Allura. I don't need sleep, I just need to meditate, and I can do that while I'm keeping watch." She quickly clambers up takes up onto the abandoned stump in the center of the clearing, poised with her legs crossed and eyes wide and alert. 

The team begins to take their places around her, Allura claiming her sleeping spot first. The rest of their group arranges themselves around her- seeing as they have large cats to accommodate as well, it's a bit of a tricky feat. Shiro ends up closest to Allura curled up next to Black and Hunk ends up on the other side of the stump in much the same position. Lance eyes Keith warily and Keith reciprocates the gesture. He's not too keen to spend another night in a row with the red paladin- sleeping next to him this time, but Blue and Red seem like they'd be hard-pressed to separate. So. Sleepover buddies it is, he supposes. 

Lance reluctantly lies down on the side of the stump opposite Allura, scrutinizing Keith. Keith huffs and does the same, curling in on himself and turning to the opposite side as he lays down. Lance turns away as well. "You better not kick me in your sleep," Lance warns, voice coming out alarmingly fond despite the fact that when he'd thought it in his head it had been conceived as more of an insult. 

Keith snorts. "Wouldn't dream of it, sharpshooter," he says softly, and Lance feels his heart do a horrible flip at the nickname and the honeyed-sweet tone of voice. Keith is tired, that's all. He's tired and he sounds different than he's actually trying to. Same goes for Lance, obviously. He's not at the top of his rivalry game because it's been a long day and he needs his beauty rest now. He _needs_ to go to sleep now and stop thinking, effective immediately, because hoo boy this is a lot of unsanctioned thoughts.

Just before he drifts off, he hears Blue's laughter in the back of his head, and tries to send her the mental equivalent of a middle finger. She only laughs harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'm sorry this chapter is later than usual- I was sick last week, and unfortunately not the kind of sick where you can get in more writing. More like the constant nap kind of sick.
> 
> So, if you're down here looking for translations from the Infernal, they'll follow below- just continue at your own peril because since the story is written from Lance's POV, this conversation obviously holds a few potential spoilers. If you decide not to read them, I feel the story holds up perfectly well with out the translations. (That is how I intended it, but that's just me.) Also bear in mind that 1. this is an invented language. I certainly didn't intend for there to be any definite similarities with existent languages! If you're offended by it for some reason, let me know and I'll change it. 2. Even though I honest to god created this language (holy shit I'm extra) these are not direct translations.
> 
> TRANSLATIONS:  
> Cha. Nao se ma ro te Lance? - So. What do you think of Lance?
> 
> Lance? Rou ro hu che er routuche cha miréwu. Siro? - Lance? I think that he's loud and annoying. Why?
> 
> Ma er ka ngewéché, Keith. Ma rodi mi naqti rorosi, ma chilé hu? - You are too obvious, Keith. You like a specific type, you know that?
> 
> Chi rou se che. Rupi, che er lucu. Minu. - No I do not. Although, he is cute. A little.
> 
> Nai, nai. Ma tehe che, ma kit che, ma xav ut teré che, ma xav ut huwé che! - Sure, sure. You like him, you love him, you wanna kiss him, you wanna fuck him!
> 
> Tila! Ma torenouchou. Nai, cha nao, mwéna rou tehe che. Er che rodi rou adza se édaina za che. - Shut up! You jerk. Yeah, so what, maybe I like him. It's not like I'll do anything about it.
> 
> Chi! Keith, ma alarin! Ngén che réi mi ngopuchélu! - No! Keith, you coward! Ask him on a date!
> 
> Er ma hitelungo? Chi! Che rodi chi tehe rou. Che er asuhou. - Are you crazy? No way! He doesn't like me. He's straight.
> 
> Ma chilé, ma riddé er mi chalgéili lépo, Keith. - You know, you really are a funny guy, Keith.
> 
>  
> 
> If any of you are curious, I wrote Nyma and Rolo as a Yuan-ti Pureblood and a Triton from D&D, respectively, in case you want to know what I was envisioning writing them. I have sketches of them as well, if anyone is curious.
> 
> I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading, and if you liked it, leave a kudos and maybe a comment to tell me what you thought! I'd really appreciate it!


	9. Electra

Lance blinks back into existence the next morning slowly and quietly. His brain feels fuzzy and a little bit like it's lagging behind. After all, he didn't sleep the night before, and this _is_ a game. A glitched game, at that! Who's to say it couldn't make his brain lag?

There's a warm weight pressed up against his back. He shifts and tries vainly to stretch, but finds he's being blocked by something. Lance cranes his neck around behind him to try and get a glimpse of just what the fuck is going on. Maybe Blue cuddled up to him in the middle of the night?

His eyes snap open wide and he jumps a little as soon as he catches an eyeful of what's going on. It's sure as hell _not_ Blue. And- spoiler alert- it isn't Red either. It's- you guessed it- the only other person who was sleeping behind him.

Keith is right there behind him, with half of his body leveraged over Lance. He's snuggled up right against Lance's back with one leg thrown haphazardly over his hip. His head is tucked right into the crook of Lance's neck and he's got one of his fists grasped loosely in the back of his shirt. His hair falls fanned around his face in an inky black halo, apparently having removed his hair tie before going to sleep last night. He also seems to have curled his tail around one of Lance's legs at some point during the night, clinging to him tightly despite all odds. Lance's breath catches in his throat as he stays, frozen and staring directly into Keith's vulnerable face inches away.

Lance's eyes rove over him curiously. The early sunlight filters in through the canopy of the treetops and dapples Keith with slivers of sun. He's like nothing Lance has ever seen before. Objectively, Keith is beautiful. This is not new information. His mouth hangs open slightly, his perfect lips parted just a hint, and his breath fans tantalizingly over Lance's face. Against his own volition, Lance's hand moves out almost reverently and brushes a stray lock of Keith's hair out of his face and behind his ear.

Of course, he panics almost as soon as he does it and retracts his hand, but Keith thankfully remains peacefully asleep. His tail, however, tightens almost imperceptibly around Lance's leg at the motion. Lance feels his heart flutter just a little at Keith's subconscious movement and he has to carefully remind himself that Keith has _no clue_ he's currently spooning Lance. This isn't even an active choice Keith made- in fact, Lance is _certain_ that if Keith were awake right now, he'd be putting as much distance between himself and Lance as humanly possible. Obviously.

That's just the unfortunate truth. Keith hates Lance, and Lance… yeah, okay, Lance maybe doesn't hate Keith as much as he pretends to. He maybe actually sort of… admires the guy? Like, yeah, okay, he's a total wild card. Lance knows next to nothing about him except for what he revealed during their rooftop pow-wow, but it doesn't seem like that's happening again anytime soon. He's just kind of got that mysterious loner vibe going, whereas Lance on the other hand has a social butterfly thing going on. It's clearly just a natural instinct- people like Lance will always wanna figure out people like Keith, but as hard as they try, people like Keith will always just work even harder to stay a mystery.

Lance groans in frustration under his breath and drops his head back onto the ground, tilting it backwards in exasperation. To his chagrin, he finds himself making direct eye contact with Pidge. She's still perched watchfully on the stump behind them, and her green eyes twinkle at Lance with a radiating aura of smugness. Lance glares at her pointedly. She shrugs and mimes zipping her lips, locking them, and throwing away the key. He rolls his eyes. Yeah, right. Pidge has definitely caught onto his friend-crush after witnessing all of that Keith-watching, and she _never_ lets go of anything this juicy without blackmail. It wouldn't be the first time she unwittingly ruined a blossoming friendship for Lance by… well, utterly embarrassing him in front of them. Lance lays his head down level again and glances back over at Keith.

He feels incredibly guilty for just… _laying_ here, tangled up with Keith and staring at him openly, making absolutely no effort whatsoever to detach himself or move. Keith would be mortified if he knew what was happening. At the same time, though, Lance feels sort of like he needs this. He wants to drink in every detail of Keith's face until he has it committed to memory. He absent-mindedly finds himself wondering if Keith is actually this breathtakingly gorgeous in real life. After all, Lance only got a single look at him, but he feels he can safely say he is.

There isn't even really anything Lance can do after that horrible interaction with Pidge save for continue to lie there on the ground entangled with Keith. He's certain that if he were to try to extract himself from the tiefling's grasp, he'd only end up waking Keith up and feeling horrible about it. Not to mention the awkwardness that would ensue once Keith realized he was snuggling up to _Lance_ of all people. So he just lies there, staring up at the canopy of tree branches overhead resolutely.

Blue, thank goodness, fills the empty space by making casual conversation. She whispers things into his brain like, _"The sunlight is lovely this morning, is it not?"_ or _"What do you think that cloud up there looks like? I think it looks like a rabbit."_ To her credit and Lance's immense gratification, she seems to sense it would not be wise to approach the uncomfortable situation he's in at the moment and gracefully skirts around mentioning Keith altogether.

By the time Keith stirs, Lance has calmed himself down monumentally. He remains still as Keith nudges up next to him sleepily and even goes as far as to stretch his arms and legs out perpendicular to his body like some kind of adorable sleepy kitten. Is he _trying_ to kill Lance? There's only so much inherent cuteness a man can take in one day, god damn it, and Lance is pretty sure that after that whole staring session he's awfully close to his limit. Keith yawns quietly and then blinks his eyes open owlishly. His gaze meets Lance's, and he stares at him in confusion for a gratifying seven seconds- Lance counts them, he's too anxious not to- and then promptly launches himself like an angry cat as far away from Lance as he possibly can, scrabbling away on all fours.

Before Keith can say anything, Lance solemnly asserts, "Let's just agree never to speak of this again." Keith blinks at him and then breaks eye contact and nods harshly, glancing around their makeshift camp in a vain effort to escape this awkward interaction. Lance brushes off the minute pang in his chest he feels when Keith agrees to his statement so fast and instead seeks a distraction, exactly the same as Keith is. He turns and surveys the rest of their makeshift camp.

Quite obviously, Pidge has been up for a while, considering she never even went to sleep at all in the first place. Lance shudders a little. When he thinks about it, it's awfully creepy that she just… _sat there_ and watched them sleep, but then again… somebody had to do it. If not Pidge, it would have just been one of the rest of them.

By now, Allura is up as well, although it's clear she almost literally just woke up. As Lance looks on, she stretches her arms above her head and cracks her back, proceeding to run her hands through her frizzy bedhead in a vain attempt to tame it before dropping her arms back down to her sides. She turns and positively beams at Lance and Keith, who have managed to inch out at least a respectable ten feet of distance between themselves in the time since he's woken up.

Lance grimaces at her almost guiltily, covering up his embarrassment with an awkward smile. Keith, on the other hand, seems determined to stare resolutely at the dirt on the ground in earnest, clenching and unclenching his fist around a handful of grass. Lance has to admit, it's a little ominous. He ignores the gesture, though, in favor of turning to Allura and giving her a proper smile. "Look who else is up! The morning can begin now!" He greets her, wholeheartedly embracing this convenient distraction which has so kindly presented itself to him, all wrapped up in a little box like it's Christmas morning.

Allura grins back at him and rolls her eyes good-naturedly. Her eyes dart around their camp carefully before returning to rest on him with a small smirk. "You can't have been _that_ bored, Lance. Pidge and Keith seem to be awake as well, and I'm sure they're perfectly capable of entertaining you." Pidge harrumphs at this notion and snorts something under her breath that Lance would likely take offense to had he heard it. He flips her the bird cheerfully and continues his conversation with Allura.

"Oh, but _au contraire_ , Princess! These two wet blankets couldn't hold my attention span even if they tried! They simply don't have the raw connection that we do," he drawls, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Allura giggles and waves him off, thankfully taking the flirting as the joke it is. Of course, it's not like she ever took his flirting seriously even back when he really meant it, but oh well. He supposes it doesn't matter in the slightest now- he almost prefers the completely platonic flirty banter they can sustain now to the way he repeatedly humiliated himself and struck out a few months back. Actually, you know what? Screw "almost." He _definitely_ prefers the friendship they have now.

Allura opens her mouth to reply, probably with something equally as flirty and dumb that she just as equally doesn't mean, but Pidge cuts her off before she can say anything. "That's funny, Lance, because as I seem to recall you were _very_ invested in one of us wet blankets this morning," she lilts, and Lance feels his face flush warm up to the tips of his ears. That little gremlin…! He feels Keith's disinterested, slightly curious eyes land on him in the corner of his peripheral vision, but staunchly ignores them until he gives up and looks away. Pidge tilts her head. "But don't worry," she promises, "everything from this morning will stay our little secret."

Lance releases a sigh of relief. _Oh thank god._ She's not blackmailing him- at least not for now- and thanks to her quick thinking, now everyone just thinks he had a conversation with Pidge. Well. Everyone being Allura and Keith, he supposes. Shiro and Hunk don't count, as they didn't hear anything particularly damning in the first place.

Speak of the devil, a muffled groan sounds out from Lance's right where Hunk has all but become one with the ground. He's determinedly pressing his face into the springy forest ground as though it's personally offended him, and when he glances up his bangs are a wild mossy mess in front of his face. "Have they fixed the game yet? Are we free?"

Keith glances up from the grass he's so intent on abusing and frowns a little. "Hunk," he deadpans, "does it _look_ like we're free?" He gestures with the hand not currently mauling innocent plant life to their notably unchanged surroundings.

In his sleep-addled state, Hunk doesn't even bother to look around to confirm, he just pouts. "I figured that. Just thought I'd double check, ya know, in case this is actually all just one big mass hallucination and one of us finally realized." There's silence for a moment before his eyes bulge comically wide and he panics, "Oh god. Is that an option? Did anybody ever say that wasn't possible? Did I just realize that we're hallucinating?" 

Lance knows from experience he'll ramble on anxiously like this forever unless otherwise redirected, so he takes the initiative. "Hunk. Remember Shay? The girl you just spent the whole walk here telling me about yesterday?" He asks flatly, and Hunk immediately snaps out of it. He blushes vehemently and bashfully turns his gaze to the ground, one floppy ear twitching slightly. Lance grins. Bingo. "Well, she's still waiting for ya, buddy. We gotta go get your girlfriend!" 

If possible, Hunk’s blush darkens even more as he crosses his arms indignantly. " _Lance!_ " He whines, "She's not my girlfriend! She's just… maybe a girl that I happen to admire very much, okay?"

Pidge’s eyes blink dark several times astutely, and then she leans forward so fast she almost falls off her stump. "Hold up, stop the presses, Hunk’s got a _crush?_ " Hunk squawks in protest ("She's not my crush! I just happen to like talking to her and I admire her a lot!") Pidge bravely presses onwards and completely ignores Hunk. "This is a scientific first! Completely undocumented in the natural world! We must investigate!"

Hunk pouts. "Just because I haven't _told_ you about people doesn't mean I haven't had crushes before," he grumbles under his breath. He scowls minutely. "This right here is why, in case you were wondering."

Lance waves him off. He knows that Hunk has never had crushes before, despite his adamant insistence he has. He and Hunk tell each other everything, and if Hunk had a crush, Lance would have known about it whether or not Hunk wanted him to. Pidge makes a long, drawn-out, thoughtful noise that sounds similar to a dial-up tone (which is, for the record, one of the most terrifying things Lance has ever heard- how is she even _making_ that noise?!) and hops off the stump, stretching her joints and releasing an onslaught of robotic clicking and hydraulic hissing in the process. "What's she like? Shay, I mean," Pidge inquires curiously.

Hunk pouts in embarrassment and his face turns a bright red. It doesn't seem like he's planning on answering anytime soon, so Lance speaks up cheerfully in his stead. "Hunk says she's part of a tribe called the Balmerans! They commune with the cave system since it's actually sentient, and her family wants to stick to tradition and stay in the caves but Shay wants to see the sky more than anything! She's never seen it before, right buddy?" He elbows Hunk and Hunk turns a shade even darker, if that's at all possible. He brushes Lance off him and crosses his arms defensively.

He's silent for several seconds but then finally relents and mumbles at the ground, "Yeah. That's right."

Keith perks up, sitting a little straighter and pulling a face at Hunk. His fingers twitch once more around the grass he's uprooted before he relaxes his hand and lets it fall out of his grasp. It is entirely possible at this point that Lance might be hyperfixating on Keith a little bit. "How can she never have seen the sky before? Aren't all the NPCs in this game, you know, actual actors with actual _lives?_ I'm sure that's all just part of her role and she actually has seen the sky before, Hunk. It's not that hard to spot." He frowns and finally stands up again, brushing the front of his pants off. He strolls over to where Shiro's sleeping and nonchalantly punts him in the shoulder with the tip of his foot. Shiro spasms a little but otherwise remains unresponsive, so Keith kicks him again and Shiro jolts awake, instinctively reaching for his bayard before he relaxes as he realizes it's just Keith. Keith snorts and immediately turns away from his brother and back to the conversation at hand. Shiro disgruntledly flips him off behind his back and Lance chokes on his spit as he tries to contain his laughter.

Shiro, shocked at the sudden sound, swivels his head and meets Lance's gaze. Lance panics for a split second that Shiro will realize he has in fact been paying attention to Keith rather than the ongoing conversation that's occurring, but Shiro just blinks once tiredly, shrugs, and then looks away. Lance releases the breath he didn't know he was holding in relief, then decides it's probably time to tune back into the conversation.

He starts listening just in time to catch the tail end of something Allura’s saying, "... should arrive by noon. We can pick out a healing crystal and be well on our way home by nightfall."

Hunk's hand shoots into the air to interrupt before he promptly realizes he doesn't need to raise it in the first place. He lowers it hesitantly and interjects, "Okay, but I would like to argue that we should make sure Shay and her tribe are okay before we go? She sounded worried about something when I talked to her before." Hunk wrings his hands together and stares off into the distance as he frets.

Allura nods decidedly. "Of course, Hunk. We won't leave her to fend for herself if she's in trouble. We'll also check in on the Balmeran tribe, then. Any objections?" She glances round the clearing to double check that nobody has a problem with this, which they of course don't, before looking at Shiro expectantly. "Well. Are you ready to leave, Shiro? You _are_ the leader, after all."

Shiro sighs tiredly and stands, cracking his neck and stretching his arms out as he does. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be," he assures the group, and begins packing up what few belongings they left scattered across their makeshift camp before they leave. Everyone pitches in to help and in less than a minute, everything's picked up. Allura silently leads their way out of the clearing, holding her map up and tracing potential routes with her pointer finger. The rest of their group trails behind a little lethargically, still sleep addled from waking up. Lance pulls himself away from the group a little, because he wants some time to think over everything that's happened and maybe specifically things pertaining to a certain mulleted co-player.

He gets scarcely any time, however, before Pidge appears out of nowhere and sidles up to him with a smug aura surrounding her. She tilts her head up at Lance as if to say I told you so, and Lance feels defeated even though he's not sure what she would have told him so. The lights that make up her eyes dim their top halves until she's giving him a strange smirking half-lidded look, and she buzzes, "So. What was up this morning, loverboy?"

Lance shushes her aggressively and glances around their group to ensure no one's listening, and _of course_ they aren't. He sighs and explains hastily, " _Look_. It is _not_ what you're thinking. I just realized how neat it would be to be _friends_ with Keith, okay? He's such a cool guy, I'd like to get to know him more." He glances down at the floor self-consciously and frowns. "So… just, don't ruin this for me. Please. Okay?" 

Pidge’s expression softens and she loses a bit of her hardened posture. She blinks at him and assures him, "Of course, Lance. I won't get in your way. I promise." She zips her nonexistent lips and pantomimes throwing away the key. "I think it's great that you're trying to get along with Keith. He could use a friend to talk to, I think. I won't get in your way at all." Lance releases a sigh of relief at the promise and lets his shoulders sag a little more. He thinks for a fleeting moment Pidge will leave him alone, but she looks forward for about a millisecond before turning back to him innocently and stage-whispering, "Okay, but you _do_ at least think Keith is hot, right? I've seen the eyes you make at him."

Lance makes a choking sound and looks at Pidge like she's just said something scandalous, which she may as well for all Lance is concerned. He hisses at her, " _Pidge!_ Keep it down! He's right up there!" He glances to where Keith is strolling and making easy conversation with Shiro. His eyes dart back to Lance and Pidge when he hears his name, and his eyebrows furrow in momentary confusion before he shakes his head and turns back to his brother, unperturbed. He glances at Pidge with side eyes and gestures wildly at Keith to make his point.

She stares at him for about five seconds before abruptly bursting into loud laughter, slapping a hand over her eyes and rocking back and forth almost hysterically. The entire group turns to regard them and Lance freezes, panicking even more than before. He feels like his eyes have to be at least the size of dinner plates right now and his face has to be as red as a tomato. He waves sheepishly at them. Hunk and Allura wave back good-naturedly where in the front where they lead the pack, but Shiro and Keith just look on in confusion. To Lance's immense gratification, everyone returns to what they're doing within a few seconds. Pidge finally stops laughing, and wipes an imaginary tear from her eye, probably just to spite Lance. He pouts at her, and she explains, "Lance, you dumbass, we're not even speaking _English_ right now. We're speaking Primordial. I can't believe you didn't even realize you switched languages, that is peak comedy right there." Her expression turns thoughtful. "And _very_ impressive coding, actually. How did they…?" She trails off, getting lost in her own head for a few moments as she stares off into space.

"... You're telling me none of them can even _understand_ us?" Lance parrots fervently, snapping Pidge out of her reverie. She snaps her head around to look at him with an odd mix of annoyance and fascination.

She tilts her head thoughtfully. "No. Well, except maybe Hunk, but I don't think he's listening in the slightest. It's just like when you were eavesdropping on my conversation with Keith yesterday," her expression turns smug and Lance curses under his breath. Of course she noticed that. "So no, they won't know what we're saying. I'm a polyglot, so I can speak all languages. I'm primarily a translator robot," she chirps, sounding entirely too chipper about describing herself as a robot.

Lance perks up a little at that description. "Like C3PO from Star Wars?"

Pidge glares at him as if she's been gravely insulted and deadpans, "Yes, Lance. _Exactly_ like C3PO. Kiss my shiny bronze ass." And oh, no. She's gonna lose her temper with him so fast if he keeps this up, but it's so funny. He's not sure he can stop once he starts.

"That's Bender from Futurama, Pidge, not C3PO! Nice try, but I apparently know my pop culture robots better than you do," he asserts, turning his nose up at her mockingly. She scoffs and flips him off, automatically picking up her pace to keep up with Shiro and Keith. Lance chuckles to himself anyways, and keeps his pace even. They should be reaching the Balmeran caves soon anyways, he can stand to walk a few minutes by himself.

He turns to look for Blue to talk to, but she is regrettably walking up ahead with Red, both of them pressed side-to-side. She senses Lance's attention on her and momentarily crooks her head to look back at him. A slight sense of amusement emanates from her and she snickers in her head at him before turning back and reuniting with Red just as cheerily as before. Lance scowls at her turned back. Whatever that was, it couldn't have been good. She's definitely got some inside joke with Red and Lance doesn't- oh. Oh no. Not even ten seconds after Blue's laughter, Keith turns to Lance and slows. Lance takes everything nice he's ever said about Blue back, she is in so much trouble later.

Keith falls behind until he can match pace with Lance and falls into step beside him. He looks at Lance curiously, opens his mouth to say something, and then apparently thinks better of it because he snaps his mouth shut again and looks down at the ground. Lance quirks an eyebrow at him. Like, dude, if you're gonna walk with him at least _say_ something.

They stroll along in silence for several minutes before Lance loses his patience and blurts rather awkwardly, "What's your last name?" He mentally slaps himself as soon as it's out of his mouth because what the _fuck_ , that's _such_ a creepy question- but hey, at least it's better than silence.

Keith turns to stare at him with wide, confused eyes and furrows his brows. "Uh," he pauses in thought, "Why?" He seems utterly at a loss. Lance reaches his hand up and awkwardly massages the back of his neck, trying to relieve some of his nerves.

"Well," he begins, his eyes pointedly looking anywhere but at Keith, "I just felt like it's an important piece of information to have? And right now, we're fighting for our lives together, and I guess I just think it's weird that I don't even know your _last name_ of all things," he rambles, feeling more self conscious with every word. He should have just suffered through the awkward silence, he shouldn't have said anything anyways.

Keith stares ahead in silence as they keep walking and for several horrible moments Lance is afraid Keith will just blow him off and stay silent. He fidgets nervously with his hands and is just about to try and slow down to avoid the embarrassment of the situation when Keith mutters, "Kogane." Lance makes a questioning noise, not sure if Keith even _meant_ to say anything, and he repeats himself louder, " _Kogane._ My last name is Kogane."

Lance's eyes go wide, and he tests out the feel of the name in his mouth. _Kogane,_ he mouths, his eyes darting over to Keith. _Keith Kogane._ "That's a nice name," Lance compliments him, and Keith scoffs and opens his mouth to object. Lance cuts him off, "It's nice to meet you, Keith Kogane. I'm Lance McClain." He offers a hand out stiffly for Keith to shake, a smile plastered across his face.

Keith stares for several seconds at a loss, his mouth hanging open slightly in confusion and his eyebrows furrowed as his eyes dart across Lance in search of insincerity. When he finds none, his face slowly splits into a small smile and he chuckles, much to Lance's disbelief. He takes Lance's offered hand in his and shakes firmly. "Yeah. I guess it is nice to meet you, Lance."

Lance drops his hand after the handshake and resumes to walking with his eyes trained ahead of him. He only makes it for about six seconds before his eyes trail back over towards Keith and he questions, "So, Keith Kogane… What's your favorite color and why? I feel like that's something I need to know about all my friends." Lance feels his heart skip a nervous beat when he throws out the word 'friends.' Really, this is ridiculous, but… he's just a little nervous Keith will laugh in his face and say he'd never be friends with Lance.

So, it's a pleasant surprise when Keith forgoes questioning Lance's reasoning to instead question his line of questioning. He raises one skeptical eyebrow at Lance before glancing down at himself and his deep red skin tone very pointedly. He deadpans, "Oh, I don't know, what _ever_ could it be. Maybe you should ask my dragon, _Red._ " He keeps trying to stare at Lance with this deadpan expression of his, but his lips are very clearly threatening to quirk upwards into a smile.

Lance bursts out into laughter, breaking Keith's deadpan easily and causing the other boy to let out a breathy laugh as well. He looks over at Keith out of the corner of his eye and reasons, "Okay, okay, you win. Good point. We're all pretty much just caricatures of our favorite colors at this point and these past few days have literally been the most surreal experience of my life. We're living in a video game, I guess basic icebreakers just aren't gonna cut it. I'll try harder next time, _Your Majesty._ " Lance sweeps down into a sarcastic bow as deep as he can while still walking, flourishing one hand out next to him and slapping Keith lightly on the arm with it at the same time. Keith brushes him off, still laughing quietly to himself at Lance's antics.

Keith starts to say something in return and Lance is commending himself on his ingenious conversational skills when he runs straight into Pidge’s outstretched hand in front of him. He comes to an abrupt stop, dumbfounded at how Pidge got to be standing right next to him with a palm across his chest. He glances over at her in confusion and she sighs loudly. "We're here, dummies." Lance swivels his head around to check if she's telling the truth, and _huh._ They sure are standing right in front of the cave mouth, aren't they?

He opts not to comment on Pidge’s poor manners, instead turning to see what Allura is saying. "It's possible that the cave may be guarded by Galra soldiers, so be ready. We'll split up in two groups- Hunk and Shiro, you're with me retrieving the crystal. Keith, Lance, and Pidge- you three are our reconnaissance team. I want you to get into those caves, determine what the situation is, and rescue the Balmerans if necessary. Understood?"

"But I wanted to help find Shay!" Hunk blurts, then realizes what he's done and blushes a deep red. "I mean… she just knows me the best out of everyone, so she might listen to me better. That's all," he brushes off his concern, but it doesn't really fool anyone. 

Allura places a consoling hand on his shoulder and squeezes, a sympathetic smile on her face. "I know, Hunk. And while it may be true you know her better, I also need you and Shiro's strength to help me remove the crystal. I'm sure Shay will trust Keith, Lance, and Pidge. You trust them, right? So you have nothing to worry about," she reassures him.

Hunk frowns, looking down at the ground. He glances back up after a few seconds and grumbles, "Okay. But I don't have to be _happy_ about it." He crosses his arms and sighs. "Lead the way, Allura."

Allura nods and turns into the cave, leading them back into the dim light of the Balmeran tunnel. It's only after they've disappeared from sight that it hits Lance and he turns to Pidge and Keith. " _Great._ Do either of you have the slightest clue of how to find the Balmerans?" Pidge’s eyes go wide in panic and Keith sighs.

"I have a basic idea of where they are," Keith responds, and Pidge breathes a sigh of relief. "When I went with Hunk to find Yellow, he had to go through the city, but I stayed watch near the top of the cave system to watch for any Galra. I didn't run into any, but I mean, there could be some there now. I don't know." He shrugs.

Pidge gestures with an arm in front of her toward the mouth of the cave. "Well, lead the way then, Keith," she offers, and Lance nods. The corners of Keith's mouth turn down slightly at the request, but he forges ahead into the dark anyways. Pidge follows close behind him and Lance brings up the rear. He keeps a close eye out behind them just in case they're followed.

For the most part, they move deeper into the cave in silence. Lance notices Keith keeps idly fidgeting with his ring as if he's worried he'll need to summon his bayard soon. He has to admit, it is a little creepy inside the tunnels. The only light source is the sparse greenish-blue crystals growing out of the walls, which emit a faint glow. Pidge runs a curious hand along the walls, emitting a green glow of her own. Keith branches off into the right tunnel at a fork in the path and slows to a stop. "This is as far as I went," he admits, glancing around the much tighter space.

Pidge hums. Her eyes go dark for a second as she thinks and Lance and Keith are plunged into darkness. Well, more darkness than there already was, at least. She blinks them back on after a second and reasons, "Okay. I think my processors can map out the cave system and I can get us there. Just give me a second to gather some data." She trails off and her lights (eyes? what the fuck) disappear again as she does whatever it is she needs to. It's both silent and dark and Lance is very uncomfortable with the combination.

He's about to try and make conversation with Keith just to try to fill the void when she shows back up, her eyes enthusiastically flickering back to life. "Okay," she chirps, "I've compiled a sonar map of the area. I can take us to the Balmeran city." Without another word, she sets off further down the tunnel. Lance glances over at Keith, who shrugs back at him, and together they follow her further into the dark.

She winds a confusing series of twists and turns through the cave and eventually comes to a stop in front of a large antechamber. The cavern is filled with huts of some sort and has a considerably higher amount of the glowing crystals. Pidge breathes, "This is it," before taking the plunge straight ahead into the cavernous room.

She can't have made it further than three steps before she's blocked very suddenly by a looming, grayish-green creature. It has glowing yellow eyes and a set of pearly white fangs on its lower jaw that only serve to accentuate its underbite. It tilts its head at Pidge and its floppy ears move with it, before growling, "Why have you journeyed to the city of Balmera?" Lance hears Blue's growl echo menacingly in his mind, warning him that this could be a possible threat. Lance stays on guard, but is carefully discrete about it.

Pidge harrumphs and places her hands on her hips. She tilts her head right back at the Balmeran before declaring with a degree of haughtiness laced in her voice, "We are the paladins of Old Altea, and we've come to ensure the safety of your tribe. Our yellow paladin was here several days ago and said you might need help. He spoke to a girl named Shay. Was he wrong?" The Balmeran's ears flatten back and his eyes narrow at Pidge viciously.

"My name is Rax. I am Shay's brother, and I am afraid my sister has misinformed you about our situation. We are doing just wonderful on our own. Thank you." He nods and continues to stare at them critically. He seems to be expecting them to leave. Keith takes a sudden step forward next to Lance, his eyebrows furrowed in defiance, but Lance steps in before Keith can escalate the situation.

"Well I'm sure you won't mind if we just speak to Shay, then! If you would just kindly direct us to her-" 

Rax spits at their feet. Lance steps back, offended. "No. Shay is fine as she is, overworlder. She does not need you travelers filling her head with your nonsense and giving her ridiculous ideas. Leave, before I call my cousins and we make you leave." He crosses his arms and looks down on them intimidatingly. Lance scoffs, about to argue that, okay, he has older sisters so he totally understands the whole protective brother vibe, but this is so not necessary, they just wanna talk to her…

When who Lance can only assume is Shay herself appears from one of the huts and walks over to her brother's side. "Rax? What is going on? Who are these people?" She asks. She tilts her head at them and takes in their appearance before smiling gently and commenting, "I like them. They're very colorful."

Lance preens under the attention, but Rax whirls on his sister and frowns at her. "Of course _you_ would think so, Shay. They are from the surface. They claim you told their friend we are in trouble, when we are clearly not." Rax gestures around him huffily at the calm village. Lance rolls his eyes. What an asshole.

Shay, on the other hand, brightens immediately at the mention of 'their friend.' "Oh!" She exclaims, clapping her hands together joyfully. "You mean Hunk! He was ever so helpful. Is he here? I would love to see him again!" She cranes her neck around and surveys the cavern as though she expects Hunk to jump out from behind a rock and yell boo.

"No, he's not. He's with the rest of our team searching for a power source," Keith explains, "but he said you mentioned you might be in trouble. Can you tell us what you meant by that?"

Shay blinks in surprise, wringing her hands together. She gives her brother a cautious glance and then looks back their way. She bites her lip and then inquires, "Of course. Rax, would you be so kind as to give us a moment alone?" She makes puppy dog eyes at her brother and Rax sighs in resignation.

"Fine," he huffs, turning on his heel and stalking away. "But just know that I do not trust these surface dwellers one bit. You are safer down here than on the surface, Shay," he barks over his shoulder, still maintaining his brisk pace.

As soon as he's disappeared into a nearby hut, Shay turns back to them with a relieved expression on her face. She frowns at them and explains. "I am not exactly in danger per se, but I am also not entirely certain I am safe. The Galra are keeping us trapped within these caves, and they are keeping us trapped in the game as well so that we cannot expose Zarkon to the media," she explains in a hurried tone.

"Wait a minute," Lance interrupts, raising one hand to pause Shay's explanation. "Zarkon? As in _evil emperor of the Galra_ Zarkon? What does _he_ have to worry about?" 

Shay blinks at him in confusion, her mouth tugging down in dissatisfaction. "Who did you think took over the company after Mr. De Altea passed?" She asks, tilting her head quizzically. Lance feels his heart skip a horrible nervous beat, but none of them interrupts her. "Zarkon is plotting something, but none of us are certain what it is. Whatever it may be, it is almost sure to be dangerous, and I do not wish to be sitting dormant in these caves when it comes to pass. If I am to die somehow, I wish to see the sky even just once before my time comes." Shay's face falls and Lance immediately feels horrible. On top of just feeling sick in general. Zarkon is trapping his _own_ employees in this hellscape and putting their lives at risk? That is fucked up on so many levels.

Keith nods. "Of course we'll get you out of here, Shay. Follow us," he promises her, and with that he spins and heads back into the cave they came from.

Lance wasn't gonna mention it, he was just planning to skirt the subject, but after about three minutes of walking through the dimly lit cave, Pidge abruptly blurts, "So. If you're a real person, how have you never seen the sky before?"

Both Lance and Keith whirl on her and give her pointed glares when Shay's excited smile turns wistful. Pidge shrugs and rolls her eyes unapologetically. Shay sighs, glancing to one of the walls resignedly. "I'm blind in real life," she tells them, and it gets very quiet all of a sudden as they all collectively panic they've offended her somehow. Shay laughs, and assures them, "It's fine, _really_. I've been blind my whole life. It's just… when I heard there was technology in development that would allow me to see for the first time, even if it was just a simulation? I _knew_ I had to take the risk. My brother helped me to get a job at Garrison as an actor and he took the job too, for some extra cash. And, well, here we are." She bites her lip and sighs. "Rax is worried that if I leave the caves, I'll be in even more danger. But I'm _certain_ we're already in danger here! I'd like to come with you when you leave the caves," she proposes, fidgeting with her hands.

Lance glances between Pidge and Keith. Neither of them seem to have an objection, both of them merely shrugging. Lance grins widely and declares, "Well then, Shay, welcome to the team! Hunk will be so happy to have you."

And with that, they set off back towards the surface, with both one more ally to their names as well as renewed worries about Zarkon's motives in keeping them trapped here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Just wanted to apologize for this chapter taking so long. I had it all planned out and then summer started and everything just got super crazy. I had to focus on finals and graduating, and then enrolling in college and registering for classes, and then my mom had surgery and I had to take care of her, and tomorrow _I'm_ having surgery. So things have been wild for me, but I'm finally rolling this chapter out! I hope it reads as consistent because I wrote it out in lots of little chunks, so I hope you all enjoyed it!
> 
> Leave a kudos/comment if you liked it, I always love hearing from you guys!


	10. Alphard

" _Shay!_ " Hunk screams as soon as everyone makes it back to the surface, practically catapulting himself into a hug with her. She giggles and pulls back to look at him, and Lance is tempted to say that her face is almost just as red as his is. He grins to himself at their antics and wanders over to Allura, who's lugging their giant Balmeran crystal with her. Keith and Pidge trail behind him.

"So," he asks, eyeballing the massive rock, "how are we supposed to get _that_ all the way back to the castle?" Allura huffs in indignation and shifts the weight of the crystal in her arms.

She squints at a few stray hairs that have fallen into her eyes and blows upwards, displacing them for a few precious seconds before they fall right back into her eyes. She grumbles in frustration and goes to try again, but Lance reaches out and tucks them behind her ear for her before she can. She smiles at him gratefully. Lance notices Keith's tail lash back and forth angrily several times and wonders what the fuck has his panties in such a twist. _Yeah_ , Keith, Lance gets to tuck Allura’s hair out of her face and you _don't._ Somebody's jealous of Loverboy Lance. "Thank you," Allura murmurs to him sincerely, again adjusting her grip on the crystal. "And to answer your question, I am _perfectly_ capable of carrying the crystal back to the castle by myself, thank you very much."

Lance examines Allura skeptically. He has no reason to doubt her strength, he's experienced it firsthand when they first entered the game. But he's certain that without a break, she'll overexert herself in no time, and none of the rest of them are strong enough to carry that ginormous hunk of rock for longer than maybe thirty seconds by themselves before they pass out. Blue seems to agree. She murmurs her assent in Lance's thoughts. _"There is no possible way the princess can carry such a burden for so long. It would not be good for her. I shall transform and fly it back to the castle instead. You all can follow on foot,"_ she proposes. Lance tilts his head, considering the plan.

"Blue says she'll take it back," he informs them after thinking on the possible pros and cons for a few seconds. Pros: Allura _doesn't_ pass out, and the crystal gets back safely much faster. Cons: none, maybe? Blue is a literal dragon, she can definitely take care of herself?

Allura, however, shakes her head definitively. "No way. It's too risky." She hefts the crystal up a little higher, but it's increasingly clearer that it's slipping from her grasp. Blue growls at her and raises her hackles. Allura glares back, but at least in Lance's opinion, nothing can quite measure up to Blue's piercing icy gaze. After about five uneventful seconds, Allura sighs and gives in. "Fine," she huffs, "take it, Blue." She lets the crystal slip to the ground and it lands with a resounding thud. Blue leaps back out of the way of the falling object in her shock, fur puffing up in all directions. Lance muffles a laugh and Blue shoots him a nasty look.

She transforms fairly quickly, however, and snatches the crystal in her powerful jaws. She crouches low to the ground, preparing to swoop into the air, when Keith's eyes go wide and he takes a step forward. "Wait!" he shouts, raising a hand to stop Blue. She pauses mid-takeoff and swivels her head to look Keith in the eyes warily. "Red wants to come with you," he declares, his voice shockingly steady for someone being stared down by a dragon at least ten times his size.

He clearly has nothing to fear, though, because as soon as Blue processes his words she visibly perks up, her joy resounding in Lance's brain and her tail wagging ever-so-slightly back and forth. Allura opens her mouth to object, but Red has already transformed and taken off like a bullet, leading the way for Blue to follow her. Allura simply sighs. Keith shrugs. "Did what I could to warn you," he mutters, crossing his arms.

Pidge and Shiro laugh, probably at the emotionally constipated expression Keith is making. Lance exhales in amusement as well, but he's a little more preoccupied by Blue's excitable chattering still going on in his head. He mentally shoos her and tells her to keep it down. He wonders if Keith is currently dealing with the same thing, or if his dragon just cooler and more put-together than Lance's. (Blue directs a very indignant sound to Lance at this line of thinking.)

Allura mumbles something under her breath and turns around rather abruptly. "Well, we should be heading back then. Can't let the crystal beat us there by too much." She then sets off back on the path they took to get here, seeming rather annoyed. Everyone trails behind at a slower pace and Lance notices pointedly that nobody steps forward to walk with Allura this time. She's clearly in a bad mood for some reason, and she just needs some time to come back down. Lance walks by himself this time, right between Keith, Pidge and Shiro on his left and Hunk and Shay on his right.

As they're passing the gnarled tree they passed on the way here that Blue said looked like a snake, Coran appears very suddenly in the middle of the path, startling them all thoroughly. Or at least, Lance thinks that it's Coran at first. Under closer examination, it seems to instead be some sort of projection of Coran, glowing blue around the edges. He looks panicked about something and his eyes keep catching on something out of view just to his left. He shouts, "Princess! Paladins! The Galra are attacking, and we're out of options! Hurry back! This is an _emergency,_ I repeat…" His voice trails off and the image fizzles out. Everyone glances around with wide eyes, but Pidge is the first to recover and react. 

Green transforms in the blink of an eye, shifting into a coppery green dragon with spines lining her back and benevolent glowing green eyes. She ducks and lets Pidge on her back, and Pidge barks, "Allura! Climb on. _Now._ " Allura doesn't hesitate, sprinting over and vaulting herself up and onto Green's back, and then they're swooping off into the sky without another word. Lance shares a concerned glance with Keith as both of them realize in unison that neither of them has their dragon.

Shiro realizes as well and wastes no time in commanding, "Shay, you're with Hunk. Lance and Keith, with me. Let's go." Yellow and Black transform almost in the same second and Hunk helps Shay climb onto Yellow. Lance rushes over to Black alongside Keith and they both clamber onto Black's back behind Shiro. Black goes to take off and Lance panics- _can he fall off if it's not his dragon?!_ \- and grabs hold of Keith's waist abruptly with an iron grip. Keith shoots him an annoyed glance but otherwise makes no comment, and they soar off into the sky at full speed.

It only takes a few minutes before they touch down just outside of Arus and Shiro leaps off of Black's back, sprinting for the castle. Lance releases Keith from his hold and they both follow hot on his trail. They arrive outside of the castle only to find it a smoldering mess, Coran standing just outside of where the door used to be and staring at the wreck with a somber expression.

"They took Matt," he murmurs resolutely, and Lance feels his heart sink into his stomach. He quickly glances around for Pidge and finds her standing in the middle of the scorched foyer, her fists clenched in anger. He walks in after her, carefully avoiding the parts of the floor which are still smoking. She's kicking the wall over and over again, her voice an enraged buzz that sounds to Lance somewhat like how a swarm of wasps might sound.

"Stupid. Fucking. _Crystal!_ " She shouts, punctuating each word with another angry kick to the wall. "I _knew_ we shouldn't have left him behind! Idiot. Idiot! _Idiot!_ " She berates herself, her fists clenching a little more with each word. Lance walks up next to her and just stands there in what he hopes is comforting silence, waiting for her to calm down a little.

Once she's stopped kicking and screaming, he places a careful hand on her shoulder. "Hey," he murmurs, "it's okay. Matt is smart. He won't let them hurt him. He's okay, I know he is. It's gonna be okay." Pidge turns to face him, her eyes a dull, dim green. She looks small and broken.

"Do you think so?" She asks, arms crossing in front of her chest defensively. She glares at him like a petulant child.

Lance nods. "I _know_ so," he promises her, and holds out her arms to offer a hug. She sighs and falls into the hug gratefully, just letting Lance hold her and comfort her in silence.

After a few moments, she grumbles into his shoulder, "Stupid fucking robot body. Can't even cry for my own brother." Lance tries very hard to stifle his laughter, believe him he tries, because it is absolutely not an appropriate time to laugh and he's upset right now, too, damn it. It doesn't work, though, and a breathy chuckle escapes him. Pidge stiffens in his arms for a moment and then she, too, is laughing, going absolutely limp where he holds her. She looks up at him resolutely after she's calmed down, and the light has thankfully returned to her eyes. "You're right," she declares confidently, "I mean, they _kidnapped_ him. They didn't kill him. Which means they have some kind of a plan for him. We'll get him back."

Lance grins at her and drops his arms back down to his sides. "That's the spirit! Now we just need to decide what our next course of action is. If Shay meant what she said about the actors being trapped here too, then there could be _a lot_ of other people out there in danger, too. We need her to tell us more about that and maybe then we can help some of those people." Pidge nods in confirmation and steers herself over to where Shay and Hunk are surveying the carnage of the castle. Lance thinks about heading over there too, but he resigns himself to rounding everyone up from where they've scattered to first.

He finds Allura first. She's standing by herself amidst the rubble, looking at the ruined castle sadly. Lance walks over and stands beside her quietly. He feels absolutely horrible about all the things Allura’s been through since they started the game. First her father died, and now his proudest work is being torn down one piece at a time. His heart goes out to her.

He can't let her take too much time to grieve though, as much as he would like to. Every second that they waste standing here being sad could be another person's life in danger. He nudges his shoulder into hers, carefully bringing her out of her reverie. She blinks in shock and glances over at him. "Shay has some information she needs to share with us," he explains gently. Allura nods shakily and pulls her posture a little straighter before striding over to where Hunk, Shay, Coran, and Pidge are standing. Lance walks in the opposite direction, towards Shiro and Keith, who are huddled together in the street over near where the stables were. They're murmuring amongst themselves about something, but Lance can't tell what it is. They stop once they see him approaching, so he supposes he'll never know.

He walks up kind of awkwardly and gestures over his shoulder with a thumb. "Shay's gonna tell us some stuff about the game. Are you two coming?" Shiro nods stiffly and hurries over to the group with confidence in his step, but it looks a little forced to Lance. He hangs behind with Keith and angles his head towards where Shiro's joining the group. "He doesn't seem like he took the news too well. Is he okay?"

Keith sighs and shrugs, looking at Lance a little sadly. "I think so. It's just gonna be hard on him. He's been best friends with Matt since they were in kindergarten. Matt was his first crush, and even if they broke up, he was also his first love, I think. Even once you've moved on, it's hard to let go of someone like that and Shiro never really… _had_ to. He and Matt ended things mutually and stayed best friends, so it's gotta be hard for him to lose him so suddenly." He falls silent and they both turn to look at Shiro in unison. "He'll be okay, though. Shiro's strong. How did Pidge take things?" He asks, looking at Lance curiously with his arms crossed over his chest defensively.

Lance sighs and scratches the back of his neck thoughtfully. "I mean, she was pretty understandably devastated when she first heard. I think she blames herself, which is ridiculous? But I think she's maybe doing a little better now. I'm pretty sure she just wants to throw all her energy into finding him."

Keith arches one eyebrow at him. "You told her you think he's still _alive?_ "

Lance furrows his brow at him in confusion. "What, you _don't?_ I mean, it's pretty clear to me. They took him from the castle," he begins listing off his evidence on his fingers like bullet points, "they didn't flat out _kill_ him, and they purposefully left Coran here to tell us what happened. I think they're trying to use him as bait to get to us." He shrugs. "At the very least, they have some kind of plan that involves him. They're not gonna kill him if they _need_ him." Lance looks over his shoulder toward the rest of their team a little nervously, then back towards Keith. The boy looks kind of shell-shocked at Lance's reasoning. He blinks in disbelief.

"I… I didn't think about _any_ of that. Holy shit." His eyes focus back in on Lance in something very similar to awe. "You're good at that," he muses, "the whole strategizing thing. You know how people think." He smiles a little, and Lance has to fight to hide the blush threatening to stain his cheeks.

He waves Keith off frantically, flapping one hand at him and laughing off the compliment stiffly. "Haha, no," he deflects, "It's nothing. I'm just thinking what anyone else would. Anyways. Let's go see what everyone else is talking about." He hurriedly spins on his heel and walks almost robotically towards the cluster of people across the street. He winces a little as he reviews what he'd said. Fuck, that was _so_ obviously a distraction tactic, it's not even funny anymore. Oh well. Forget about it and move on, people are in danger here, Lance. He slots himself in between Hunk and Pidge. "What are we talking about?" He inquires innocently. Pidge side-eyes him dubiously, but says nothing when Keith joins them a split second later, frowning a little in confusion.

Shay pipes up, "I was telling everyone about the actors that I believe are trapped in the game. Zarkon only placed the lockdown on those of us who did not agree with his plans."

"And what plans would those be?" Allura asks. The rest of their circle looks to Shay in anticipation.

She seems to shrink in on herself a little, and hesitates for a while before answering quietly and solemnly, "I believe he wishes to kill you all so he can have uncontested ownership of Garrison Co. and Monsters and Mana. If you survive and testify that he kept you trapped here, he would surely go to jail. I am... sorry you had to hear it from me." She shuffles her feet nervously.

Chaos erupts among the group all at once and Shay's eyes go wide as she's overwhelmed with the onslaught of panic. " _Zarkon_ placed the lock on the game?!" Pidge shrieks in outrage, at the same time that Shiro questions rationally, "Hold on. Why exactly would his ownership be contested?" Allura screeches, "That son of a _bitch!_ I can't believe he would do this!" Hunk throws his hands up and demands, "Wait, he's seriously trying to _murder_ us?! Oh my god, we're gonna die. We're actually gonna die in here and no one will ever know. Oh fuck."

"Shush!" Keith shouts, much to Lance's surprise. He was just about to do that same thing. "Let Shay talk." Shay smiles at him in gratitude before continuing.

She wrings her hands together nervously and stammers, "Uh. Well. If Allura makes it back, Alfor legally left the company in her name." Allura’s eyes snap wide open as she receives this information, which is apparently news to her. Shay continues, "But, as the former vice president to the company, ownership goes to Zarkon instead if Allura doesn't wake up. He's keeping us trapped here because if we get out, _we_ could testify against him, too. Anyone who went along with what he's doing is free to go," she explains. 

Lance senses that the conversation is about to get off track again real quick, so he takes it upon himself to speed things up a little bit. "Well, who do you think is in danger? Any names you can give us will help."

Shay frowns at the ground as she thinks. She looks up with an unsure expression and apologizes, "I don't know for certain, and I don't know many. But I _do_ know for certain that my friend Plaxum didn't agree. I think a few of the actors playing the demons didn't like his plan either, but they were smart enough to keep quiet about it, so I'm not sure if they're trapped or not. There were also a number of human NPCs who really weren't happy with the idea." She squints in thought for a second before shrugging. "I'm sorry, I think that's all I can tell you," she tells them apologetically. Coran steps forward.

"Don't be sorry," he assures her. "Zarkon must still not know Alfor asked me to be in the game, seeing as I can still log out. We have an advantage, and that means I can log out and search for information in the company databases to help us locate these people. Zarkon will be none the wiser," he promises. He then glances at the rapidly setting sun. "For now, though, we ought to search for shelter for you all. I suspect you're tired after all this, and you'll need to rest to keep your strength up. Arus may not be safe for you anymore, but a large city like Riverrun is bound to keep all of you camouflaged while we plan. We will set up our new base there for the time being. I'd suggest you fly if you wish to make it there before nightfall." He points off into the distance towards the same canal city as the one where they found Blue. "Now, I'll be signing off for the night. I'll see you all in the morning," he promises, and then promptly fades away into light blue static. It's a sobering reminder to Lance of precisely how trapped they really are here, totally at the mercy of the game.

None of them even says anything to each other this time. They all just climb aboard their patiently waiting dragons in silence. Allura hops back up with Pidge again and Shay rides with Hunk. Only once they've departed does Blue open up her connection with Lance once again. He'd been so preoccupied he hadn't even noticed she'd closed it off until now, but it's just as well that she did. It would have been a little distracting trying to comfort his team and discuss strategy with Blue whispering in his ear constantly. _"How are you doing?"_ She inquires, even though she can obviously tell exactly how he feels.

Lance just projects his feelings at her and hopes it comes across how well and truly overwhelmed he feels. Blue chirps sympathetically. _"I am sorry,"_ she proclaims sincerely, sending wave after wave of comfort at him. _"None of this was supposed to happen this way. There were never supposed to be so many complications."_ Lance tells her it's not her fault and she just rumbles sadly underneath him anyways.

He focuses instead on the grounding sensation of the night wind buffeting his face and ruffling through his hair. They're almost to Riverrun, he thinks, and he promptly wonders if Blue missed it at all. She shudders beneath him slightly and he gets his answer. As the city comes closer into view and they draw ever nearer, Black breaks the ranks and swoops downwards towards an empty field a short ways away. The rest of their dragons follow Black's lead and they all touch down in the middle of the flower field.

Lance pats Blue on her back as he slides down her scales and onto solid ground. She purrs quietly. It's oddly silent in the dead of the night, the only sounds around being the crickets chirping softly in the distance and the faint sound of the wind blowing through the grass. Lance stares at the towering silhouette of Riverrun in the near distance. The spires of the fortress built into the rock at the city's center loom ominously overhead and Lance sighs as he looks at them.

 _Gain a new home and lose it right away,_ he thinks as he shoves his hands into his pockets and begins the resigned trek to the city's gates once more. _Just our luck lately._ Blue trills at him sympathetically and brushes against his legs affectionately, in her cat form once again. Lance reaches down and ruffles the fur along the scruff of her neck and she bends into his touch. At least he'll always have Blue, no matter what happens in the game.

They've already lost Matt. Lance can't afford to make any more mistakes and let any more of his friends slip through his fingers so carelessly. He can't bear the thought of losing any of them. Not Hunk, who he's known since birth and who's been there for him countless times. Not Pidge, who's so young and has so much untapped potential it's insane. Not Allura, who's already suffered so much and who's quickly becoming one of his closest friends. Not Shiro, who he knows barely anything about yet but who he _wants_ to know. And not even Shay, despite having just met her.

Most certainly of all, _especially_ not Keith. He shocks himself with the certainty of his conviction on this matter. Every fiber of his being screams at the thought of potentially losing Keith _now_ when he's only just begun to understand him. He can't lose Keith, they're a team, and besides, he… he promised. He promised Keith he would be there for him, and he promised _himself_ he would protect Keith. He may act tough, but he's just as scared as the rest of them, and he needs a friend whether he likes it or not. Pidge herself said so, and she's known Keith for much longer than any of them except Shiro.

So Lance _will_ become friends with Keith. Hell, he'll become _best_ friends with Keith, he pledges to himself, staring determinedly at the back of Keith's head as he walks a few paces ahead of him. He'll make sure this boy survives to see the real stars again even if it's the last thing he does.

After all, Lance is probably the least valuable out of the team in terms of ensuring their survival. Allura knows the game inside and out, Pidge is a genius and knows code backwards and forwards, and Hunk is an engineer. Shiro's their leader, Keith has _insane_ combat skills, and even Shay has insider information about Zarkon and his plans. With all that, what else could Lance possibly do to contribute? The least he can do is protect the team with _everything_ he's got.

Even if it means he never gets to see the natural light of day again, he thinks it would be worth it. Just to keep them safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie this chapter got angstier than I intended I think! But I mean... things are getting serious in the game and everyone's bound to be having deep thoughts at this point. I hope you guys all enjoyed this chapter despite the angst, because the next one is supposed to be a little more light-hearted. 
> 
> As always, let me know if you enjoyed! Leave a kudos or write me a comment because I'd love to hear from you. Knowing you're all enjoying the story is what keeps me going!


	11. Muliphein

Waking up in Riverrun is… well, it's an experience, to say the least.

With such short notice, most of the inns around the city had no vacancy. So it was with great regret that their group was forced to stay at _The Wet Chapel_ of all places instead of any of the much cozier, more reputable inns in Riverrun.

And The Wet Chapel isn't horrible, per se. It's just that… 

Well. No. It _is_ bad, objectively. Very bad. Frankly, Lance wakes to a steady dripping on his face from a hole in the straw roof and the pungent smell of mold. At least now he knows why it's called The Wet Chapel.

He groans and sits up, stretching his back. He's stiff after a whole night of sleeping on a straw mattress, but functioning on poor sleep is still ultimately better than no sleep. He stands up and shuffles out of his cramped room, still wearing his boxers and the ratty "complimentary" sleep shirt he was provided by the inn. He stumbles through the doorframe and directly into the inn's dining area. Lance takes a seat on one of the worn wooden benches lining the table and slumps his head into his hands.

"Sleep alright?" He's greeted by Hunk, who sits down next to him and slides him a mug of a coffee-adjacent drink. Lance takes it gratefully, not even caring when he takes a sip and it's atrociously watered down. It's _caffeine._

He slurps on his coffee and glares up at Hunk disapprovingly. "Does it _look_ like I slept okay? Come on Hunk, you know me. These eyes don't _do_ bags, and right now they are most _definitely_ doing bags." He rolls his eyes- not at Hunk but at the shitty inn- and drops his head back down to press into the uneven wood surface of the table. Hunk pats him consolingly on his shoulder and he grunts at the table in acknowledgement of his friend's solidarity.

The bench shifts beside him as someone else plops down with them. "Ew. You actually _wore_ that thing? I bet it has bedbugs," a far too cheery voice chirps at him, jabbing at his well-worn sleep shirt with one finger. He glances up and his gaze meets the glowing green cesspools that are Pidge’s eyes. He narrows his eyes at her and scoffs.

"What did _you_ wear? It's not like I have a lot to wear considering what little we had in the game _burned up in a fire yesterday_." Pidge shrinks in a little on herself at his aggressive retort and he eases up a little, murmuring an apology to her. That's right, _Matt_. Fuck. Maybe make an extra effort to _not_ be an ass to Pidge for a little while.

He's just about to further explain himself when Pidge shrugs, having apparently already forgiven him. She reaches for his abandoned mug of tasteless coffee nonchalantly and gulps down a hearty swig. "I'm a robot, Lance. Don't need to wear anything to sleep. Or wear anything at all. Or even need to sleep, remember?" She tilts her head at him mockingly and he sticks his tongue out in response, very maturely. She just chuckles at him. Stupid Pidge.

Keith joins them across the table, idly toying with his knife. He twirls it in his hand and gestures flippantly with it, pointing to Lance. In his sleep deprivation, Lance forgets to even flinch at the potentially threatening gesture. He just lazily stares at the point of the knife angled at him. "Or just do what I did," Keith offers, shrugging one shoulder, "sleep nude."

Lance blinks at him once. Twice. Keith holds his gaze unapologetically. He furrows his eyebrows at him and frowns. "What the _fuck_ , man," he deadpans, chin still resting on the table. Keith doesn't appear ashamed or even embarrassed in the slightest, so Lance elaborates. "You slept _nude_? In a straw bed? In a game where any of us could walk in on you?" He stares quizzically at Keith with one eyebrow raised.

Keith simply shrugs again. "Not like it's any different from real life. Plus, this isn't even my real body. I have nothing to be ashamed of." Keith's philosophy hits Lance hard. None of these are actually their bodies, are they. Oh fuck. It hasn't even been that long and Lance is already starting to think of their "avatars" as their real selves. Which is ridiculous, because he has _never_ been a water elemental, Pidge is _not_ a robot, and Allura certainly isn't an elf. And Keith is sure as fuck not really half-demon.

But they are for the time being, aren't they? These digital creations may as well be them. How long have they even been in this stupid game by now anyways? It's been five days that he counts, he thinks, but it's entirely possible that he both missed a day while healing and that time passes completely differently here than in the real world. Just how long have they really been gone?

He grumbles and sits up, snatching his coffee back from Pidge hastily. She holds her hands in the air in surrender and allows him to take it. He gulps down another sip, clutching the cup greedily in both hands. Allura and Shiro stroll in together from outside, both of them apparently having woken up a while ago. They stroll over to the table in stride and sit down. Allura folds her hands in front of her neatly. "We spoke to Coran this morning and he believes we should begin by trying to contact the actors who are still undercover with Garrison. He believes it would be best if we had people on the inside, since he doesn't know how often he'll be able to log into the game with the threat of Zarkon looming." She clears her throat and glances to Shiro.

He sighs and continues, "Coran thinks it's possible that some of them may be hiding in the underground of the human cities, which means we potentially lucked out coming here. We just need to locate them, which could be a bit of a hassle. They don't exactly _want_ to be found." The whole team sits, considering this predicament.

Shay tentatively speaks up, "You are speaking of the actors portraying the demons, correct?" Shiro nods and she glances to the door. "I may know some people who can help us."

Which is how they end up in the middle of the bustling city of Riverrun, trying to fight their way towards the looming fortress at the city's center. Shay claims it's where the human royalty resides, and that they have connections with the demon court that resides underground. They weave through the crowds of people going about their daily business. Shiro leads the way, flanked by Allura- since the two of them are the closest to human-passing in the group and Shay so helpfully noted that the actors in Riverrun were instructed to show prejudice against non-humans. This fact means their group of course gets a multitude of nasty looks from passersby as the make their way to the gates of the fortress, but what can you do?

Shiro glares at anyone who looks at them too funny, anyways, and no one really seems to be willing to contest Shiro and his ethereal good looks. So all in all, they make pretty good time to the fortress with relatively few incidents along the way. (Somebody spat at Keith's feet, but he spat right back at them. So, bygones are bygones.) They find themselves standing in front of the elaborate gilded gates to the fortress, each of which is heavily guarded. The guards examine them warily and raise their spears. "State your names," one of them barks at them, hefting his shield a little higher.

Allura steps forward with her hands raised placatingly in the air. "I am Princess Allura of Altea," she introduces herself, "My paladins and I come seeking a meeting with the high council." The guard who spoke scrutinizes them for several moments and Lance thanks his lucky stars that they stopped along the way to purchase more impressive outfits, because there's no _way_ any of them would have been allowed through in their old and tattered clothes. The guard eventually nods and steps to the side, beckoning for the gates to be opened.

"You may pass," he informs them. "The high council will meet you in the throne room, in the left tower. My men will escort you there." He directs two of the other guards to flank them as they enter the fortress.

Allura leads the way through the looming towers. Lance looks around in awe at the impressive architecture. The imposing stone walls of the fortress soar above the rest of the city and Riverrun's crest hangs on almost every surface, a proud blue dragon. Lance's heart soars with pride and he nudges Blue, who pads alongside him. She glances up with curiosity in her eyes and Lance whispers, "Look! That's you!" He points at the crest excitedly and she puffs her chest out happily.

_"That it is,"_ she agrees. _"I served as the protector of Riverrun for many years before I fell into my sleep. I have been here for a long time, Lance."_ She purrs softly at the thought and Lance tilts his head quizzically. He thought she said she didn't want to return to Riverrun? Maybe he was mistaken. Blue spares him a glance as they walk along, her tail flicking gently. _"No, paladin, you were correct. I hold a fondness in my heart for Riverrun after protecting it for so long, however while I slumbered it became my prison. I did not wish to return so soon to the city that held me captive for so many years."_

Lance nods in understanding and wonders, not for the first time, about the precise mechanics of the game. It seems less and less like a game and more like a whole alternate dimension, but he supposes that's its purpose. Everything seems to fit together so seamlessly that it's difficult for him to remember that it even _is_ a game sometimes.

The guards push open the large double doors and the throne room unfolds before them. Inside sit four identical thrones, all empty. The only thing that differs in their appearance is the color of the cushions on the golden chairs- one purple, one navy, one forest green, and the last a scarlet orange. Allura leans to them as discreetly as possible and murmurs, "Riverrun was designed to have a ruling body of four nobles, one from each royal family in the human kingdom. They each have their own city to preside over as well, but they rule jointly here in the human capital." She leads them into the throne room and waits.

They all stand there awkwardly for several seconds before a tall balding man strolls in and claims the forest green throne. He sits straight, with a thick, simple silver-banded circlet perched atop his head. One of his eyes is an unnatural silver color. Lance thinks maybe it's glass. He clears his throat and drums his fingers on his armrest. "I am Duke Iverson, coregent of the Kingdom of Greatshadow." He tilts his head to the side casually as though he's bored. Lance hates him already; it's a good thing there are three other rulers on their way as well.

Not even ten seconds later a tall woman strides into the room briskly. She has short sandy hair and her deep blue cape billows around her ankles. She takes her place upon the navy throne. Instead of Iverson's simplistic circlet, she has a looping silver circlet inlaid with sapphires. She reclines in her seat almost automatically, leaning her head against her hand propped up against the side of the chair. She fails to introduce herself, and Iverson harrumphs. "This is Duchess Sanda. She hails from the Kingdom of Spearwell." She nods dismissively and waves him off with one hand, sighing.

So far, Lance doesn't particularly like _either_ of the rulers of Riverrun. Maybe being an unbearable person is just a side effect of being royalty.

Interestingly enough, the remaining two rulers of Riverrun stroll out together, engrossed in a heated discussion. It's a man and a woman, both of them clearly much younger than Iverson and Sanda. Lance can't see their faces because they're angled in towards each other, but the boy is gesturing enthusiastically with his hands in front of him and the girl is nodding emphatically. They stroll towards their thrones- orange for the woman and purple for the man, and both of them sit at the same time.

Lance gasps as soon as they turn, his hand flying to his mouth. He thinks he hears several of the rest of their party gasp, but he can't imagine why. The two rulers' attention jumps to the lot of them and they both freeze.

It's dead silent in the throne room.

"Veronica?" Lance is the first to regain his voice, shaky though it may be. He thinks he's maybe tearing up a little.

She beams at him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears as well. "Lance!" She shouts, and stands with her arms outstretched. He sprints for her as soon as she moves and collides with her, tackling her back into her throne. She laughs, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

Behind them, a small, hopeful voice speaks up. "Adam? Is that you?" Lance swivels his head back to the group from where he's wrapped himself around Veronica and she peers over his shoulder curiously, then whirls to her left.

The man sitting in the purple throne smiles tearfully, sniffling a little, and confirms, "It's me, Shiro. I'm here." His eyes travel up and down Shiro, and he barks a laugh out. "Here I've been worrying myself sick over you for weeks, and you look _amazing._ " Shiro giggles a little- a sound which quite frankly has no business coming out of his mouth in Lance's experience- and steps forward. He looks pretty shell-shocked.

He opens his mouth, but all that escapes is an emphatic, " _Adam_." Adam nods and laughs weakly, smiling a little lop-sidedly. "I was worried I'd never see you again. How-?" 

Adam cuts him off, raising his hand to pause Shiro. "Honey, as happy as I am to hear your voice again, there's something I promised myself I would do as soon as I saw you again." Veronica's grip tightens on Lance excitedly as Adam rises from his seat and steps calmly towards Shiro. He stops several steps in front of him and sinks down to one knee, reaching into his pocket. Shiro clasps a hand over his mouth in shock when Adam produces a polished wooden box from his pocket and offers it up in front of him. "Shiro," he begins, "I have missed you _so_ much this last month. I was planning on doing this for our anniversary, but then _somebody_ fell into a coma and completely _missed_ our anniversary. I haven't stopped looking for you these past few weeks, and I decided I didn't want to wait for you another second once I found you. So, Takashi Shirogane," he opens the box in his hand and reveals a golden ring. Lance glances to Shiro in shock, who has tears streaming down his face and disappearing behind his hand, which is still glued over his open mouth. "Will you please marry me?"

Lance notices Keith is positively glowing behind Shiro, and even goes so far as to offer Adam an enthusiastic thumbs-up over his brother's shoulder. Shiro stands frozen, shell-shocked for several seconds before his hand falls from his mouth and he blurts, " _I_ was planning on proposing for our anniversary, you jerk!"

Lance can't prevent the laughter that escapes from his mouth, but it's okay because it seems like Adam is just as thrilled. He beams at Shiro and tilts his head up at him. "Is that a yes?" He asks happily.

Shiro opens his mouth to reply, but Keith beats him to it. "It's _definitely_ a yes," he confirms, nodding enthusiastically and gently shoving his brother forward several steps. Shiro simply grins bashfully and nods, and Adam stands back up to gather him up in his arms. Shiro falls into Adam's embrace easily. Lance can't be sure which of the two initiates the kiss, but the next thing he knows both of them are kissing, happy tears leaving faint trails down both of their faces. Keith cheers behind Shiro's back and Allura clasps her hands happily.

Lance glances to Veronica for an explanation, but she just grins at him and whispers, "Shiro and Adam have been dating for years. Adam and I both got suspicious when you two went into your comas, because your friends did too and we knew you were playtesting Monsters and Mana. When Alfor died, that was the last straw for us, and we both decided that we needed to investigate what was going on. We got jobs as actors at Garrison separately then met and decided we wanted to work together." She pauses, looks around with shifty eyes, and whispers to Lance, "Shh. We're undercover." She's smirking though, so Lance laughs at her and playfully punches her arm. She blinks and collects him back into a tight embrace. "I missed you _so_ much, little bro. We were worried sick."

Lance hugs her right back, but he frowns a little into her shoulder. Something about that just doesn't add up. When he pulls away, he holds onto her shoulder and furrows his eyebrows at her. "Hold on," he interrupts, "just how long have we been in here for?" Veronica shares a nervous glance with Sanda before sighing and shooing Lance off her throne. He stands and rejoins the group.

Veronica clears her throat. "I hate to tear you from your fiancé so soon, Adam, but I think it's high time we held that council." Adam pulls away from Shiro as though it pains him and returns to his own chair. Lance really surveys the two newcomers for the first time since they both walked in. Veronica wears a long, elegant orange dress with a golden circlet. It complements her well. Adam, on the other hand, wears the same deep shades of purple as his throne, with a very similar golden circlet sitting on his head. His circlet has leaves sprouting from it rather than flowers like Veronica's. She looks to Sanda and Iverson expectantly, and Iverson grumbles.

He explains briskly, "As heartwarming as all that was, kids, I'm afraid it hasn't really solved anything. You've all been comatose for a little over a month now, and we believe your families are getting antsy about keeping you on life support, morbid as that may be. The public doesn't know what's going on inside the walls of Garrison, and Adam and Veronica can thankfully update your families on your situation now. Discreetly," he tacks on, glancing at the two people in question. Adam nods sharply and Veronica crosses her heart gravely. Iverson continues, "We're here to help, but other people may not be. This game isn't safe anymore. Try to keep allies close to you at all times, because Zarkon can't kill the actors locked in the game. All he can do is suspend them from returning to real life. Any friendly NPC should be a safe bet to help you out."

The group is silent as they process this. Pidge is the first one to speak up. "Why are you doing all of this for us?" She inquires innocently, tilting her head to the side. "We don't know you. Well- not _most_ of you," she amends, glancing at Veronica and Adam. "We've never done anything for you. So why are so many of you going to so much trouble to help us?"

Sanda's eyes soften for the first time during their conversation and she sighs nostalgically. "You may not understand this, but a lot of us have been around Garrison since the brain computer implant's early days in development. The implant was meant to be a retreat where everyone could be safe and escape to have fun, but even back then Zarkon wanted more. He and Honerva, the other leading scientist on the project along with him and Alfor, believed that the BCI had more potential than any of us initially thought and tried to release it early. Alfor declined and Honerva left the project, deciding that if she couldn't release their BCI, she'd release her own. She recreated it and released it almost twenty-five years ago now, but things went haywire. People were hurt just like Alfor predicted. Honerva was arrested, and Zarkon has blamed Alfor for her failure ever since." Her eyes go dark and her gaze falls to the ground. "Murdering Dr. De Altea was the last straw for a lot of us. It was… _unthinkable._ None of us realized just how far he was gone until that moment, I think," she murmurs, closing her eyes tightly as if she's in pain.

A heavy silence descends on the room. Allura takes a sharp intake of breath, then turns and rushes out of the room abruptly several seconds later. Lance blinks and turns to go after her, but Shiro puts a hand out to stop him. He shakes his head. "Let her go," he murmurs, "This news was a shock for all of us. She'll need a little time to take everything in." Lance hesitates, his eyes still glued to the door as it swings shut. It clicks into place and he lets his tensed shoulders slump, turning to Shiro and nodding reluctantly. Shiro lets go of his shoulder.

He steps forward to delegate now that Allura has left the room. "Coran told us you might know how to get in contact with the actors playing the demons. He says they're higher-ranking individuals at Garrison who'd be on our side and that we should join them. Do you know where we can find them?"

Adam perks up, straightening in his throne and tilting his head to the side. "They've adopted the catacombs under Ele-widone as their base, which is the kingdom I rule over. You're more than welcome to come with me when I return," he promises, smiling gently. There's an obvious undertone of hopefulness to his voice like he's counting every lucky star they'll agree to go with him.

Which is _ridiculous_ , because it's Shiro making the decision and any fool could see that the two of them are hopelessly in love with each other. Shiro beams at Adam like Lance has never seen Shiro smile in the five days (or one month according to Veronica, yikes) he's known him and proclaims, "Of course we'll come with you, Adam. We'd love to."

Keith snickers under his breath and mumbles, "Yeah, _you'd_ love to." Lance elbows him and glares- his brother just got engaged, for fuck's sake, he's allowed to be all lovesick. Keith raises an eyebrow but otherwise shrugs shamelessly, and Lance narrows his eyes at him.

"Be nice to your brother! Aren't you happy for him?" Lance hisses under his breath, crossing his arms. 

Keith blinks, smirking. "Of _course_ I'm happy for him. I'm thrilled for him, I love Adam. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna let him off the hook for acting like a lovesick puppy," Keith whispers, grinning at Lance mischievously.

Lance gapes at Keith in wonder. He just keeps pulling surprises out of his sleeves, and Lance doesn't think he's ever gonna be upset with them. Whether or not he knows it, Keith is revealing his real personality to Lance bit by bit and god _damn_ it Lance is going to cherish every little piece he gets. Keith blinks at him quizzically and tilts his head, which is when Lance realizes he's probably stared for too long. He clears his throat and prepares to retort something no doubt incredibly witty, but they're interrupted by a deliberate coughing noise from the direction of the thrones.

Lance whirls to see who it was only to find Veronica staring at him deviously. She grins at him smugly and prompts, "Care to share with the class, boys? What's so important it couldn't wait until we finished talking?" Her eyes bore into Lance knowingly and he flushes despite not having a clue just _what_ exactly she thinks she knows. He shakes his head quickly and Keith follows in his lead, swallowing nervously. Veronica shakes her head in disappointment and tuts at him. She rolls her eyes and informs them, "Well, if you've wrapped things up over there, the big kids are discussing strategy. Keep up."

Lance flips her off almost as soon as she's turned her back to them and Keith snickers under his breath. He shares a secret grin with Keith, elated that he's found some form of common ground with him: annoying their older siblings. _Thank you_ , Veronica and Shiro. Then he actually _does_ turn back to the conversation at hand, because as much as he's enjoying having Keith all to himself for once he's certain that they really are missing important information.

Sure enough, Adam is delivering instructions on how they should get to Ele-widone. He's planning to call for his court in the city to send him carriages which should reach Riverrun by tomorrow morning. "You'll all stay in the fortress tonight for sure. You're much safer in here than out in those cramped streets. Then we can depart first thing tomorrow."

Veronica raises a hand briefly to insert herself back into the conversation. "I'm coming with. I wanna catch up with this knucklehead." She jerks a thumb over her shoulder at Lance and he drops his mouth open in a mock scandalized expression. She just shrugs at him unapologetically, smirking.

Adam nods in agreement. "Of course," he agrees. Then he waves his hand in the air elegantly, prompting several courtiers to rush in from the halls outside the throne room. Adam gestures at their party and waves to the courtiers. "Escort the paladins to their rooms, if you would. Shiro will stay with me, if that's okay with everyone." There are of course zero complaints about this footnote, least of all from _Shiro_ , so the rest of them follow the courtiers out the door, leaving him behind.

The head courtier pauses outside the door and surveys them thoroughly. He beckons one of the other two courtiers from his side and points to Hunk and Shay. "Show these two to their chambers. I will escort the princess and her automaton, and you," he points to the last courtier, "show these two to their chambers." It takes Lance several seconds to realize that 'these two' includes him, and he belatedly points to himself in confusion before rushing off after the courtier who's already gained a head start. 

"Her _automaton_?! _Excuse_ me!" Lance hears Pidge shriek behind him indignantly.

He keeps strolling after the courtier, who walks almost mechanically as he swings his arms briskly at his sides. He reminds Lance a little of some kind of drill sergeant. Keith jogs a little to catch up to them and keeps pace beside Lance. He momentarily considers trying to make conversation, but figures that they're better off just walking in silence. It shouldn't take them too much longer to get where they're going, anyways.

Sure enough, the courtier stops abruptly at the next door in the long hallway and waves an arm at it emphatically. "Your room, sirs." He swings the door open and Lance pads through the entry. It's certainly a big room, but… there's only one bed. Despite the fact that it's a downright massive bed, Lance feels like maybe a few details got lost in translation. He turns to the courtier in confusion.

"Where's the other room?" He asks, shooting a glance at Keith. Keith nods in agreement and the courtier blinks a few times in bafflement. "There's _two_ of us," he explains, gesturing between himself and Keith pointedly.

The courtier tilts his head a little and frowns. "I'm sorry," he apologizes slowly and carefully, "the fortress only has so many guest rooms and you'll have to share. This isn't a problem, is it? You _are_ partners, after all." He looks between Keith and Lance in confusion, and Lance thinks hard. He supposes they are indeed partners on the team, and if he wants to be better friends with Keith, it shouldn't be a huge deal to share a room with him for one night. But there's still something bothering him about the situation.

Keith puts that 'something' into words rather easily. "There's only one bed," he complains frankly, pointing at the bed in the center of the room bluntly.

The courtier winces but shrugs apologetically. "Sorry, but this is the only room we have to offer you," he assures them, and then he's out the door in a flash, no doubt hoping to avoid any further complaints.

Lance sighs heavily as the door in front of them slowly swings shut and clicks into place. He turns around to assess the room. Blue and Red waste no time going and curling up with each other in the corner of the room, so Lance turns to Keith. "I'll sleep on the floor," Keith exhales the moment they make eye contact. The words end up leaving his mouth in one big, almost incomprehensible breath. Lance has to strain for several seconds to make out what he said.

"Um. _No_? Why should you do that?" Lance argues, placing one hand on his hip. He looks to the bed, then to the uncomfortable stone floor. Keith will _not_ be sleeping down there, not if he can help it.

Keith's expression turns sheepish and he kicks at the floor a little. "Because," he offers plainly, and only elaborates further when Lance very deliberately raises one eyebrow at him sarcastically. Keith throws his head back and groans. " _Because_ , I've been ruining your sleep for the past three nights. You deserve to be able to sleep, god damn it, and I'm _not_ gonna be the one to keep ruining that for you!" He crosses his arms and huffs, then promptly stomps over to sit cross-legged on the floor. Lance stares on in confusion and then shakes his head at Keith staunchly.

"No way," Lance insists, narrowing his eyes at Keith and then going to join him in sitting on the floor. "First of all, last night was _not_ your fault in the slightest. Second of all, I will be sleeping on the floor or _no one_ will be sleeping on the floor. I'm not gonna make you do that, there's no way you got good sleep these past couple days either. You slept on a roof, on the ground in the middle of a forest, and in the same uncomfortable straw bed as we all did last night. No way I'm gonna be the asshole who ruins your sleep a fourth night, either." Lance scoffs and turns his nose up at Keith. The two of them glare at each other solemnly from five feet apart where they're both planted on the ground sitting cross-legged. The reality of the situation sets in with Lance that they really are both sitting here, on the stone floor, scowling at each other like petulant children. He glances down at the ground before meeting Keith's eyes again and bursting into laughter. Keith draws back, his eyes going wide, and then he too starts giggling. It starts out quiet at first, but soon they're both bursting at the seams with laughter and clutching their sides. Lance takes a deep breath and meets Keith's gaze once more, shaking his head. "We're _so_ stupid," he gasps while he catches his breath. Keith nods, still chuckling, and Lance glances to the massive bed. "We can just share the bed. No big deal, right?" 

Keith shuts up real fast and his eyes follow Lance's gaze to the bed. He's silent for several seconds before shrugging. "That's fine by me, I guess. So long as I don't wake up wrapped around you or propped up on your shoulder again," Keith jokes, and Lance's breath catches in his throat for a split second. That's the first time either of them has really acknowledged their previous... nighttime predicaments, and it's a little strange to hear Keith throw it out there so casually like that. (He ignores the little whisper in the back of his head that reminds him he kind of really _wants_ to wake up with Keith wrapped around him again. That's clearly not what _Keith_ wants, so it's out of the question anyway.)

He shakes his head to clear his thoughts and agrees, "Of course. We can use some of the extra pillows to make a wall between us so it doesn't happen again. I used to do that sometimes during sleepovers, because I used to kick people in my sleep. It works pretty well." He stands swiftly and strolls over to the plush bed, already getting started rearranging the excess pillows on the mattress. He moves about three of them before he realizes Keith hasn't moved an inch from his spot on the ground. Lance looks over with his brows furrowed and frowns. "... Keith?" He prompts, eyes searching for answers somewhere in Keith's far-off expression.

Keith startles, blinking, but slowly and steadily raises his gaze to meet Lance's. "I've never _had_ a sleepover," he mumbles blankly. Lance's eyes go wide and he lowers the pillow he's holding in confusion. Keith has never-? For a moment, this fact doesn't add up in his brain. Lance has had countless sleepovers, with Hunk and his siblings when he was younger and even some more recent all-nighters with Hunk and Pidge. He can't quite fathom how somebody can _never_ have had a sleepover.

But then he remembers what little Keith has shared with him about his less-than-stellar childhood and his heart sinks. He stares at Keith for a few seconds longer before straightening up and insisting, "That's ridiculous." Keith furrows his brow and looks up to argue with Lance but he cuts him off. "You've had _two_ sleepovers with me. And this makes another one. You're basically a natural." He turns back to adjust the pillow wall he's building. Out of the corner of his eye he notices Keith grinning to himself and he lauds himself on a job well done. He finishes building the makeshift barrier and flourishes his hands at it, proclaiming, "Ta-da! The Great Wall of Riverrun. _Nothing's_ getting past this baby." He pats one of the pillows triumphantly and it falls over. Keith snickers from where he's relocated to the other side of the bed, eyeing the wall dubiously. Lance shrugs and replaces the offending pillow.

"I can see that. What impeccable architecture," Keith teases as he climbs into the bed and under the blankets. Lance smirks proudly regardless of the jab and tucks himself under the covers as well, facing towards Keith but with his vision obscured by the pillow wall. He can hear Keith shifting on the other side of the bed. "It's weird how this keeps happening," he comments idly.

Lance clutches the covers a little closer to him. "Yeah, it is," he mutters plainly. It's quiet save for their breathing for such a long time that Lance starts to wonder if Keith fell asleep. The candles lighting the room burned out around ten minutes ago; Lance is pretty sure the day and night mechanicsof the game operate on a cycle anyways. It's pitch black in the room save for the sliver of moonlight streaming in through the curtains.

"Lance?" Keith breathes, so quiet Lance almost thinks he imagined it. "Are you awake?"

He holds his breath for several seconds before responding. "Yeah, I am," he exhales, shifting a little bit. "What do you want?" He stares at the spot in the dark he thinks marks the pillow wall.

Keith tugs on the covers a little from his side of the barricade, and Lance hears the wall slide over a smidge. For one horrible moment he wonders if Keith just made sure he was awake so he could rudely steal the covers, but he's proven wrong. Very wrong. "I'm glad you found your sister," Keith murmurs thoughtfully. Lance feels his heart do a flip at the simple kind words, and he grins to himself in the darkness. He doesn't even care that his feet are uncovered since Keith stole the blankets.

"I'm glad too," Lance whispers, like it's a secret. Then, "I'm happy you and Shiro found Adam. He seems like a nice guy." Lance thinks back to Adam and Shiro's tearful reunion, and Keith's giddy smile as he looked on. Keith deserves something like that, too. Or... does Keith already _have_ something like that? He didn't know that Shiro did, so is it possible that Keith's been hiding his significant other, too? Suddenly paranoid, Lance wonders out loud, "Do you have somebody like that in the real world?"

Keith laughs a little, a horrible self-deprecating note resounding through the otherwise silent room. Lance never wants to hear it again. "No," he huffs, and Lance doesn't know what to do with the sheer wave of relief that floods through him at this reveal. Wasn't he _just_ thinking that Keith deserved someone like that? "Do you?" Keith asks, his voice a fraction of its earlier volume.

"No," Lance answers easily, "but I'd _like_ somebody like that." He pulls his knees up to his chest and accidentally nudges the pillow wall between them. It topples over easily, and Lance is left staring almost directly into Keith's faintly glowing golden eyes on the other side. His expression is frighteningly open and honest.

He holds the eye contact, and for the briefest moment, Lance swears his gaze darts down to his lips. He writes it off as misreading Keith's expression once again due to lack of pupils, though. Keith gulps, and it's almost deafening in the dead silence of the room. "Me too," he admits, and Lance panics immediately at the sheer emotional vulnerability of the situation. He sits bolt upright, shoving the covers off of his lap and causing Keith to jump so much he almost falls right out of the bed.

"Well!" Lance squeaks, gathering the toppled pillows. "Sorry I knocked this over! I'll just- rebuild that real quick!" He promises, hastily shoving pillows back between the two of them, much to Keith's obvious confusion. He finishes the wall clumsily and gestures with both hands at the rebuilt structure. "See? Good as new! Now, goodnight!" He yelps, throwing himself back down and under the covers, this time with his back to Keith.

It's silent for several painstaking moments as Lance breathes carefully. Keith finally sighs loudly on the other side of the poorly reconstructed pillow wall, mumbling, "Goodnight, Lance." He sounds like he's talking into his pillow.

Lance shuts his eyes tight and swears to himself silently under the covers. Shit. Shit, shit, _shit._

He likes Keith. A lot. In a romantic way, in a Shiro-and-Adam way. Really, it's so blindingly obvious now, it's a wonder he didn't see it before. It's all he _can_ see right now, he thinks.

This complicates things. For too many reasons to count.

Fuck. So much for 'just friends.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few notes! I made a spotify playlist for this fic- mostly just for me writing it, but if you wanna listen you're welcome to!  
> [Binary Stars Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/gennaellingson/playlist/3DsTZ4aBO2k4JMIpjHfj7y?si=2ia_L4NZSaiUZTrAVDnBYw)  
> I also posted some of the sketches I did of these characters of on my tumblr [here](https://astro-biologist.tumblr.com/post/186358079060/heres-my-sketches-of-the-characters-from-binary) and [here.](https://astro-biologist.tumblr.com/post/186358183560/binary-stars-sketches-pt-2-here-in-order-we) I wasn't planning on posting any of those sketches but my sister saw them and said people would want to see them, so! Here we are!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter because I really had a lot of fun writing it. Adam and Veronica are finally here, and we'll meet some more new faces next chapter! As always, leave a kudos or a comment if you liked it telling me what you thought because I'm always thrilled to hear from you guys!


End file.
